A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

SPY

Sun, 25 Feb '24
___ vs. ___ (Mad strip)
Sun, 5 Nov '23
Snoop
Wed, 4 Oct '23
Bond, for one
Mon, 2 Oct '23
Mole … or a rat, maybe
Mon, 28 Aug '23
Secret agent
Fri, 14 Jul '23
One who may bug you
Thu, 22 Jun '23
One with secrets to tell
Wed, 10 May '23
John le Carré figure
Wed, 18 Jan '23
Mole that should definitely be removed?
Sat, 7 Jan '23
Word on either side of "vs."
Sun, 25 Dec '22
Catch sight of
Sun, 30 Oct '22
One with an inside job
Sat, 13 Aug '22
Lead-in to ware
Mon, 30 May '22
Intel employee?
Thu, 24 Mar '22
Person with intelligence
Sun, 27 Feb '22
Who might bug you?
Wed, 26 Jan '22
Cloak-and-dagger sort
Sat, 13 Nov '21
Monitor of a tap
Sun, 31 Oct '21
Northern ___ (curiously named apple variety)
Sun, 24 Oct '21
One doing inside work
Fri, 14 May '21
Bug expert?
Sat, 27 Mar '21
One who's got the bug?
Thu, 25 Mar '21
One role for Harriet Tubman in the Civil War
Sun, 24 Jan '21
Only Stratego piece with a letter on it