> there's presumably little/no acquisition value in the eyes of the NYT without this tracking.

I pay their $4.99/month subscription for access to their "Games" package solely because it includes access to their full archive of daily crosswords (going back to 1993).

If they add a similar "archive" of the daily Wordles and allow payed users to replay past puzzles, that could presumably provide new value to them by enticing more paying customers.