nesting issue

[Ray Andrews <rayandrews@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

    Getting more comfortable with nesting
      things:
      
      #1: 
      local in=($1,*(N))
      #2: 
      local sorted=$(print -l "${(n)in[@]}")
      #3: 
      sorted=( "${(f)sorted}" )
      
          ... works fine, now I do an  exact verbatim nesting of line
      two into line three:
      
      local sorted=( "${(f)$(print -l "${(n)in[@]}") }" )
      
          "bad substitution".  Ok, that could be because we can't nest
      quotes so:
      
      local sorted=( "${(f)$(print -l "${(n)in[@]}") }" )
      local sorted=( "${(f)$(print -l \"${(n)in[@]}\") }" )
      local sorted=( "${(f)$(print -l ${(n)in[@]}) }" )
      local sorted=( ${(f)$(print -l ${(n)in[@]}) } )
      
          .... none of those work.  Is this something were a literal
      substitution of one block of characters can't work?  It hardly
      matters in practice, I prefer the three steps above, it's easier
      to digest, but purely as a theoretical question, can I nest line
      two and three, or even all three lines?  I'd like to understand
      why the parser doesn't like my efforts.  I can see that the 'no
      nested quotes' rule could make some literal substitutions
      logically impossible. But maybe there is a way.  If so, seeing how
      will be instructive.