I am lookinf for a New York Times puzzle about love, relationships or
the year 1946. It is a birtday present for my boss' wife, (from him,
not me) I need it ASAP. Does a New York Times puzzle like this exist?

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 30 Aug 2005 04:53 PDT

Hello nannerann-ga

I have done some research for you and I have come across a few items
that may be of interest but was a little unsure of exactly what you
require.  Perhaps one of these would be of interest:

"I Love You" New York Times Crossword Puzzle Card
"A blank notecard with a working puzzle from the New York Times on the
front and the solution on the back. Just for starters, one meaningful
entry is completed."
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/pomegranate/8088.html

Back issues of New York Times from 1946:
"Add the ultimate touch by displaying your commemorative newspaper in
an elegant presentation case. The handsome 'hand-finished' deluxe case
comes personalized with the recipient's name and the newpaper's title
embossed in gold. The Certificate of Authenticity appears prominently
when the case is open and shows that your newspaper is the original,
complete edition."
http://www.historicnewspaper.com/deluxecase.htm

New York Times Classic Birthdate Yearbook
"This beautifully gold embossed and individually bound book is the
gift with priceless memories; containing a complete recreation of The
New York Times newspaper for the very special date of your choice. The
Classic Birthdate Yearbook also includes four front pages of major
historical events of the same year. These pages are enclosed between
stylish fleur-de-lis end papers and with a detailed table of contents
page hilighting those historical events. The pages are traditionally
bound with an elegant hardback cover which is individually gold
embossed with the recipient's name, newspaper title and date on the
front."
http://www.historicnewspaper.com/newyorktimes.htm

Please let me know by replying to this clarification request if this
is sufficient for an answer.

palitoy-ga

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Clarification of Question by nannerann-ga on 30 Aug 2005 05:49 PDT

This is helpful, actually I already ordered the card yesterday!!
Anyway, I am specifically looking for a NYT crossword puzzle relating
to the topics of: Love, relationships or the year 1946.  I am not
familiar with the NYT puzzle but I guess every week there is a "topic"
to the puzzle?

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 30 Aug 2005 07:03 PDT

Hello again nannerann-ga

Thank-you for your clarification, I'm glad my previous comments were
of some use and at least on the right track.  I have, in the past,
bought historic newspapers for people as gifts and they have always
been a hit!

Onward, I have been able to track down a number of New York Times
Sunday crossword puzzles with titles that may be of interest to you.

Date            Crossword title         Crossword Compiler
14-Feb-82  	For A Loverly Day  	Lutwiniak, William (possible?)
09-Feb-86  	Have A Heart, Lover!  	Micci, Alfio
14-Feb-93  	Hooray For Love  	Black, Alex F.
27-Jun-93  	Love--American Style  	Justin, Alex K.
05-Dec-93  	P.S. I Love You  	Nosowsky, Manny

These were found by scanning the NY Times crossword database at the
following location (there may be a few other relevent ones but these
were the ones that stuck out to me):
http://nytxword.home.mindspring.com/sun-puz.htm
http://nytxword.home.mindspring.com/

The NYT keeps its puzzles guarded within a registered user section of
its website so unfortunately I cannot guide you directly to the
puzzles online (if they actually have them online).

The crossword homepage is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/premiumproducts/crosswords/index.html?incamp=xwords:learn_more

Another possible source of later date crosswords may be (registration
is again required):
http://www.il.proquest.com/products/pt-product-nytimes.shtml

The NYT have also published a large number of crossword books but I
have been unable to locate any of the above crosswords in any of their
books.  There do not appear to be books of crosswords published
year-by-year.

I think I have just about ground to a halt with this research and
cannot find anything more of what I think would be of interest. 
Please let me know by replying to this clarification request if this
is sufficient for an answer or if you require anything else.

palitoy-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Aug 2005 07:34 PDT

nannerann-ga,

palitoy-ga has given you some very good options, but I wanted to add a
few others to consider.

It is possible to access historical copies of the NY Times through
online resources.  Many public libraries can do this for you at no
charge.  You can also do it on your own (at a cost of a few dollars)
on the NY Times archives website.

Consider getting a copy of the NY Times crossword puzzle for your
boss' wife's birthdate (in 1946, I presume).  Here's an example of
what I mean:


http://tinypic.com/bfjn0l.jpg


I can't post the full crossword, since it is copyrighted, but this
excerpt should give you a feel for it.

Of course, you can also access any or all of the puzzles mentioned
earlier by palitoy-ga.

Unfortunately, we cannot post the puzzles here for you to access
directly (again, due to copyright).  But we can certainly provide
detailed instructions for how you can download them yourself.

Let me know if this is of interest as an answer to your question.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by nannerann-ga on 30 Aug 2005 10:44 PDT

Hi all!  Boy are you helpful, I went to the NYT site and registered
(paid) as a member to acces the archives but can you believe it only
goes back to 1996, so the date of the "love" puzzles palitoy gave me I
cannot access!  We are so close, can you tell me how to download the
puzzles myself?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Aug 2005 11:25 PDT

nannerann-ga,

Here's a strange and somewhat inexplicable thing -- you CANNOT get
actual page images from the NY Times archives sites for issues from
the past two decades or so.  They only provide the text.

HOWEVER, you can get the actual images from archives made available
through many libraries.  The "Hooray for Love" puzzle from Valentine's
Day in 1993 looks perfect!   Here's a piece of it:


http://tinypic.com/bfosnb.jpg


It may be hard to see in this smallish excerpt, but there are plenty
of "Love" clues in the puzzle.


In order to get a complete, full-sized copy, though, you'll probably
need to check with your local library.

Please let me know what city and state you are in, and I will check
your public library's resources and let you know how to best proceed.

Thanks,

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by nannerann-ga on 30 Aug 2005 12:26 PDT

Your the best!  I live in Wauconda, Illinois

Hello nannerann-ga

Thank-you for your question.  I am sorry I could not answer the
question more swiftly after I posted my last clarification but the
question had become locked by another reseearcher, as they have not
completed the answer I will do it for you.

As indicated in my original question clarifications, there are a
number of different ways you can obtain New York Times crosswords -
via their website, via their books or searching their records via a
library.

Unfortunately, as you have discovered, the NYT online database does
not go back far enough to enable you to find the crossword you
require.  It may be worth contacting their customer support staff to
ask for a refund on your purchase, you could direct them to this
page/question to show your intentions were to buy an old copy of a
crossword and that their database is not sufficient.

As we are unable to post images of the crosswords I indicated in my
clarification above due to copyright restrictions imposed on the
crosswords by the NYT, the only real solution you have is to try your
local library or to contact ProQuest directly.  ProQuest provide many
libraries with the complete back catalogue of NYT newspapers (the
images pafalafa-ga posted also indicate that the images come from
ProQuest's Historical Newspaper library database).

After locating your local library via the internet it appears that
they have the ProQuest Daily Herald database but they have no mention
of the NYT database on their site.  I would recommend giving them a
quick telephone call and asking them if they have the NYT Historical
Newspaper database, should they not have it they will probably be able
to direct you to a local library that does (for instance I have been
able to establish that the Skokie public library has them).

http://www.wauclib.org/Adultweb/main/edatabases.html
Wauconda Area Library
801 N. Main Street
Wauconda, IL  60084
email: library@wauclib.org
Phone: (847) 526-6225
Fax::  (847) 526-6244
TDD:   (847) 526-6236
Monday - Thursday - 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday - 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

If you have any further questions or queries on this subject please do
not hesitate to ask for clarification and I will do my best to respond
swiftly.

EVERYONE who answered really did their homework, all info was very
helpful, with combined answers I actually found 7 puzzles I was
looking for!  I am going to get a raise for sure! =) Or maybe a gas
allowance??  Thanks to all, your stars!!