I have realized that the NYT now has an article search API, and that it is probably best to use that.
The following is a simple php script that can create a citation by scraping NYT.
<?php
/**
* @author Smallman
* @copyright 2010
* @license Public Domain
* @version 1.0.0
*/
$url = 'http://www.nytimes.com/';//the url
$citenewstext;//the variable where the template info will be stored
$tags = get_meta_tags($url);//get the meta tags
//build the citenewstext
$citenewstext = "{{cite news\n";
$citenewstext .= "|title= ".$tags['hdl']."\n";
$citenewstext .= "|author= ".$tags['byl']."\n";//remove the By and correct case later
$citenewstext .= "|url= ".$url."\n";
$citenewstext .= "|newspaper= The New York Times\n";
$citenewstext .= "|publisher = ".$tags['cre']."\n";
$citenewstext .= "|location = ".$tags['geo']."\n";
$citenewstext .= "|id= articleid".$tags['articleid']."\n";
$citenewstext .= "|date= ".$tags['dat']."\n";
$citenewstext .= "|accessdate= ".date('d-m-Y')."\n";//you can change format
$citenewstext .= " }}";
//send it back
echo $citenewstext;
exit;
//resources
//http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.time.php
//http://php.net/manual/en/function.get-meta-tags.php
//https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Template:Cite_news
?>
Gives a sample result of ...
{{cite news |title= Paperwork Hinders Airlifts of Ill Haitian Children |author= By IAN URBINA |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/world/americas/09airlift.html |newspaper= The New York Times |publisher = The New York Times |location = Haiti |id= articleid1247466931716 |date= February 9, 2010 |accessdate= 08-01-2010 }}
which looks like...
By IAN URBINA (February 9, 2010). "Paperwork Hinders Airlifts of Ill Haitian Children". The New York Times. Haiti: The New York Times. articleid1247466931716. Retrieved 08-01-2010.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)