How to play
Every day brings a new Today's Trifle, the same for everyone: three small games, like the three layers of a trifle. Each has a book, a poem or a line in it.
Each layer has a job: 1 When, 2 Words, 3 World, each taking its games in turn. Until the World games arrive, a second When game stands in.
Easy or Hard, at the top: Easy is gentler, with hints (see About). Hard is below.
1. Shelf Life
Five cards: books, poems, events, battles. Put them in date order, earliest first (top, or left on a wide screen): drag a card, use its arrows, or the arrow keys. A point for every pair in the right order, out of 10.
2. Vintage
A year and six cards; two to four belong to it, the rest miss by 3 to 15 years. Tap the ones that belong. A point for every card judged right, out of 6.
3. Carbon Dating
A short passage: slide to the year it was first printed (arrow keys a year, Page Up and Down ten). Within 2 years scores 10, down to 0 at 150 years off.
Household Words
Four everyday phrases: pick the work each is found in. A point for each right first time, out of 4. Found in, not invented by.
Strange Bedfellows
Two pairs, four times: which pair is closer together in time? A point each, out of 4.
Hand-Me-Down
Books that drew on, answered or carried on older ones. Some days four questions (which of four drew on this?); others a chain to drag into order of influence. The answer quotes the evidence.
Lay of the Land
A map of Europe, its title and dates taken off. Some days: which of four books was printed in this Europe? (three tries: 3, 2, 1). Others: a line of the time; slide to the map's year. Zoom with the buttons, or pinch.
Plot Twist
A graph counted from the Library's books, its end hidden. Draw where it goes with a finger, the mouse or the arrow keys; out of 10 for how close.
Figure of Speech
Four poems in outline, the words hidden: name each poem, or its form. A point each, out of 4.
Lion's Share
A play: drag each part's bar to its share of the words; everyone else takes the rest. Out of 10.
Grand Tour
A journey told in a Library book, on a plain map. Some days tap the stops in the order travelled (out of 10, by pairs in order); others name the book from its route, or the stop that is missing (three tries: 3, 2, 1).
The Sweet Trolley and Encores
Below the Trifle, the other games' puzzles of the day. Each keeps its own score in Pastime; Wits' End and the share line stay the three layers. After some games an Encore deals another round, up to three a day, never counted in the day's score.
After
Each reveal has a Meanwhile (what else was going on) and a Marginalia question to talk over. Play all three for Wits' End and a line to share. Full marks in all three earns the Quill and Crown.
A book's year is the year the Library gives it, usually its first printing. "About" means a date is approximate. Earlier days are under Pastime; the first try counts. On an answer, tap a quoted line for more of the passage and a link to read it in English Academy (no sign-in needed).