I simply changed this:
<a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>"><$MTEntryTitle$></a><br />
to this:
<a title="[<$MTEntryDate format="%x"$>] <$MTEntryExcerpt$>" href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>"><$MTEntryTitle$></a><br />
If you’ve got a modern web browser, simply hover over the links and the first few words of the entry will appear in a tooltip.
Tweaking
I just implemented this tip. Someday I’ll be the kind of person who meticulously adds titles to my links by