Alternately, it could use some unwieldy phrase like, 'if it's area overlaps the area of a spell with 2nd-level as its lowest possible level (regardless of what level it is cast at) the spell that created.
For a specific rule to overrule that it would have to you know, actually disagree with that, by referring to something like a 'natural spell level' or some such, which doesn't exist in the game. General rule is that 3rd-level slot means 3rd-level spell. In this case, I'm going to reject the sage's advice, because he is incorrectly (IMO) invoking 'specific beats general' in a situation where there is no evidence that the specific is out of harmony with the general. The only exceptions would be if it were placed in the formal errata documents and included in new printings. I have a fairly simple rule regarding developer clarifications: If it contradicts the written text, then it isn't authoritative, just opinion-regardless of where it is printed.
