Hi guys. Thank you for your replies.
Please note that I am really not familiar with either cron or (especially) with package pinning.
Using advice given, using apt-listings and aptitude full-update, l was able to update everything except the 3 packages in question, which are now "pinned", with a priority of 3000.
I do have both cron and anacron installed, but have never used or done anything to configure them. Note: the computer in question is not on 24/7, but is normally on part of every day. Thus anacron, per the apt-listbugs man page.
If I understand correctly, a cron job has been created automatically, which will check each day automatically, and automatically in-pin the packages in question when they are eligible for upgrade. Is this correct?
If not, will I have to manually delete the cron job in question and/or manually edit/delete the package pinning, once the packages in question have been upgraded?
Finally, how can I verify that said cron job was created and enabled (correctly)?