There are many ways to tell the story of AOL (NYSE:AOL) and its numerous reinventions so here’s just one: The New York Times Crossword. With just a few letters most of which are vowels AOL is a common crutch of cruciverbalists. (See also: APE EPEE and BRIO.) Below I’ve compiled nearly every appearance of AOL in the Times crossword from 1997 to 2011 taking the company on a journey from “Prodigy competitor” (Jan. 14 1997) to “Netcom competitor” (Mar. 29 1998) to ”Juno rival” (Apr. 6 2003) to “Gmail alternative” (June 5 2007) to “Yahoo! competitor” (May 10 2010)—oh and finally ...