That's fair. I think we're mostly in agreement. I was never arguing that [subject が adverb-phrase verb-phrase] and [adverb-phrase subject が verb-phrase] are interchangeable, or that the latter is always equally natural.
My point is simply that the second pattern is a valid construction that can sound perfectly natural in the right context. Whether it does depends on the style, register, and effect the writer is aiming for.
To me, it's a fairly ordinary literary/narrative construction, though it just doesn't quite work in this specific example :)
Here's a better set of Renshuu example sentences, (hopefully) showing that an intervening [subject が] between an adverbial phrase and a verb phrase isn't inherently a problem:
あの夜のように、三日月が出ていた。→ [のように] + [三日月が]
このアニメのように、魔法が使ってみたいんだ！ → [のように] + [魔法が]
私の父はビリヤードの玉のように頭がつるつるだ 。→ [のように] + [頭が]
ザーッと滝のように雨が降って来た 。→ [のように] + [雨が]
砂漠のように手が乾燥してる。→ [のように] + [手が] (our sentence)
And then, something like 砂漠のように、手が乾燥していた feels much less jarring to me, because it better matches how this structure is typically used in narrative contexts. Not a direct alternative, just an example.
A TLDR of my argument:
Is the structure grammatical? → YES
Is the structure common/possible? → YES
Does this specific sentence sound natural? → NO
PS: Just as a side note, the interesting part for me is the language discussion itself, not really whether the parser should or shouldn't accept it. I'd still probably say it shouldn't be accepted in this case.
By the way, feel free to ignore me, I don't want to take up too much of your time :D
