Why? In their words:
The New York Times reports on stories all over the world, and our reporting is read by people around the world. Some readers choose to use Tor to access our journalism because they’re technically blocked from accessing our website; or because they worry about local network monitoring; or because they care about online privacy; or simply because that is the method that they prefer.
The benefit to you, o Western reader, is that you get to read the paper for free. No paywalls. Whether you respect the Times is irrelevant to this post. I’m only spreading awareness.
You will need Tor. Once you have it, their onion is found here:
https://www.nytimesn7cgmftshazwhfgzm37qxb44r64ytbb2dj3x62d2lljsciiyd.onion/
Does the onion version require the use of JavaScript? That’s what stops most onion users from using onion versions of popular websites.
EDIT: Just tried this out: Reduced functionality without JavaScript
Looks like most images don’t work but text is available and most articles seem accessible. No ads from what I can see.