Solution to Evan Birnholz’s Aug. 31 crossword, ‘A Way With Words’

Today’s puzzle is another chapter in my ongoing series “Crosswords That Usually Have Symmetry, Except When They Don’t Because Symmetry Was Never Going to Work.” I’ve written enough asymmetrical crosswords this year that I’ve lost count, but since asymmetry is something I often resort to when I feel there’s no choice, you can bet that it’s facilitating a rather heavily constrained theme.