Line 1
“The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.”
Opening Lines #51 · Sunday, 20 September 2026
Opening Lines
Five first sentences from public-domain classics. Which book does each one open?
Replaying an archived puzzle. Play today’s
Line 2
“3 May. Bistritz.—Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.”
Line 3
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,”
Line 4
“You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.”
Line 5
“‘Tom!’”
Archive · Your stats · First lines are from works published before 1930.
A few playing notes
- How do you play Opening Lines?
Read the opening sentence and choose the novel it belongs to. Look for the narrator, setting and tone as clues. A remembered first sentence can help, but a line can also be a starting point for finding a new book to read.
- When do the daily book games change?
New puzzles arrive at midnight UTC. That may be morning, afternoon or evening in your time zone. The date on the game identifies the puzzle everyone is playing.
- Can I play without an account?
You can play the daily games as a guest. Sign in if you want to keep your streaks across devices, and use the archive links when you want an earlier puzzle. Avoid posting an answer where people who have not played will see it.