Analysis | Solution to Evan Birnholz's Sept. 13 crossword, '9 to 5'

An analysis piece tackled a metapuzzle tied to Evan Birnholz’s Sept. 13 crossword, titled “9 to 5,” built around 1970s Dolly Parton. The author noted Parton’s global impact through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, credited with donating more than 330 million books to children since 1995, then moved to solving strategy without requiring deeper knowledge of her discography. The grid is unusually large at 23×23 squares and includes 10 starred theme answers. The solution hinges on a “9 to 5” positional clue: each starred theme answer contains a reversed five-letter word in the 9th through 5th letters, starting with an example that maps “BONUS TRACKS” to “CARTS.”