Bored Yale students now have another crossword puzzle to do while trying to stay awake in early lecture classes. But this one just might take them a little longer to finish.

The New York Times, which started cozying up to copies of the Yale Daily News Monday, will be available for perusal five days a week, free of charge — if you can manage to snatch one.

Yale’s current subscription is for 800 copies of the newspaper, of which 50 go to every college dining hall, 150 go to Commons, 20 go to Slifka, and 30 go to the Hall of Graduate Studies, said David White ’04, one of two students that The New York Times hired to distribute newspapers.

The President’s discretionary fund will pay for the subscription costs.

Former Yale Daily News Business Development Director Teresa Overskei ’03, who was involved with negotiations to bring the paper to campus, said that Yale publications should not consider The New York Times an adversary.

“We worked to make sure we weren’t in direct competition,” Overskei said.

Overskei said The New York Times was prohibited by Yale from any “aggressive” advertising directed at students, such as “special college inserts.”

Overskei also said the deal involved some perks, including copy editing seminars, lecture series by writers of The New York Times, and the chance for some News correspondents to attend and ask questions at press junkets in New York.

The News was involved in negotiations to share distributors with The New York Times but The New York Times hired White and Scott Bender ’04 to do distribution instead, Yale Daily News Publisher Kate Gulliver ’04 said.

“[The choice] was a simple matter of logistics,” Gulliver said. “It just worked out better to have David distribute it.”

White said he was hired by Kevin Cappallo, Yale’s liaison to The New York Times.

“Kevin knew me from back home,” White said. “After thoroughly going over my credentials and my resume, he decided to hire me.”

White said he and Bender distribute the papers each morning. He said it takes about an hour and they are done by 7 a.m.

David Wei ’04 said the arrival of The New York Times would keep on-the-run students more informed.

“I think that it would help us be more aware of what’s outside the Yale community,” Wei said. “[With a] large newspaper, like [The New York] Times, that at least will open up people’s eyes about international news.”

Former News reporter Dennis Hong ’05 also thought bringing The New York Times to campus was an excellent investment of resources.

“I think it’s great that we now have access to The New York Times,” Hong said. “Sadly, many Yalies live in a college bubble unaware that there are world events occurring around them.”