Okay, the code you used was a bit off. Try this:
.blog-permalink a {
background-color: yellow;
color: red;
font-style: italic;
font-size: 10;
}
.blog-entry-title a {
background-color: yellow;
color: red;
font-style: italic;
font-size: 10;
}
I don’t know what you are trying to do with the permalink code. But the entry title works just fine (I just tested).
I hope this helps a bit.