Currently, it is possible to see NYT stories without registration by going through google news. I found this link on Google easily enough:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/18/arts/18SCHN.html?ex=1043470800&en=ae8c...
Some experimentation suggests to me that it's not possible to just tack on 'partner=GOOGLE' -- those 'ex' and 'en' and 'ei' parameters seem to encode some magic.
Presumably, Google is paying for this, or the NYT has chosen to give Google News users access for free (i.e. without having to pay in personal information) for promotional reasons, or something like that.
--Jimbo