I've been annoyed for a while that it's nearly impossible to print the formatted, ink-saver PDF crossword from the NYT website or app from the iPhone (especially) or iPad. So, I set up this Apple Shortcut to fetch the ink-saver PDF for whichever day you select (it defaults to today's date).

You can use the link below to import the Shortcut into your Shortcuts app. Then, you can add a button to it to your iPhone/iPad/Mac home screen or dock.

Just click the button, confirm the date, and the browser will load the PDF, ready for you to print.

It probably works best if you're already logged in to NYT crosswords in your browser so that the credentials are cached, but you don't need to do that very often. The credentials should stay active for months and months in my experience.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/5fdf8d7f8a83470281c115bc9d7afc1c

What it does:

1. Takes your input date (defaults to today)
2. Uses the date to look up the JSON definition of that day's crossword to get its ID
3. Constructs the URL using the date's crossword ID to get the formatted "ink-saver" PDF.