1. A computer-implemented query system, comprising: a processor for executing computer-executable components; and memory storing computer-executable components including: a detection component for detecting a failure condition when a number of items to be returned from a data source in response to an original query exceeds a maximum number of items that can be returned from the data source and for terminating query execution processing of the original query against the data source; and a query component for automatically returning, in response to the detected failure condition, a partial result set having a number of items that does not exceed the maximum number of items by: automatically selecting a particular query term from a plurality of query terms specified in the original query, automatically generating a reduced result set limited to a threshold number of most recently created items of the data source that match the particular query term selected from the original query, wherein the threshold number does not exceed the maximum number of items, automatically generating the partial result set from the reduced result set by applying one or more remaining query terms specified in the original query to filter the reduced result set, and automatically returning the partial result set for viewing.