Business as usual restored to Akenhead crosswords with both sites again functional on 19th October 2021. Click on LINK for my crossword games, except for Nital, (available in both my domains) – DA
Akenhead crosswords are under new management and being transformed, exclusively in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. We closed my commercial operation on September 1st pending instruction from London, meantime there will be free samples of my entire collection with no limitations, and with my crossword games it’s going to be open house, folks on free samples on everything including the latest titles until we reach 100,000 Views whereupon I shall reintroduce the subscriptions! – spread the Word! We are also adding samples from the latest Sun crossword publications – See Archive (Home Page) for extending range – also new strides on the Jumbo compiling front, see my Future blog under Home for further enlightenment! Thank you for your patience while our Archive was being restored after recent unfortunate blips beyond our control which I have rectified! – DA
Pleased to report no shortage of interest in this site, and in spite of recent hiccups, we have retrieved the archive site. I have decided to move all my free offers back to this site which already has some attractive products, soon to be swelled futher by archive samples as well. I can’t do it overnight so please bear with me! I deeply apologise to our readers for the temporary inconvenience. My figures today list over 87,700 courtesy of just three techies which compares handsomely with a much larger complement at Times On-Line today who have over 92,000 followers. I have much to be proud of too, equalling Brian Greer’s 208 clue blockbuster for the Diamond Jubilee Times Crossword, with my own (and only) 90th Anniversary reply last year. My customers always come first!
And in first place right now are my much cherished prime markets, the United States of America and the Far East – China have moved into second place with Singapore in close attendance followed by GB and Germany!! In all nations, it seems, our crosswords are sought after, as well as seen as special.
Uncovered another highly suspect crossword, unrecognisable grid, and the final down clue is Aphra, and we all recognise her as Aphra Behn, alluring undercover agent for Charles II in Antwerp! It all kicked off in 1941, it seems on both sides! This Archive is beginning to prove priceless, especially in Crete and the North Atlantic convoys to Arkhangelsk, – Bismarck, HMS Royal Sovereign and Stirling Castle (troopship) all in the one Times crossword I found with its clandestine message to German High Command to sink the Royal S in port rather than open Convoy where her new defences courtesy of USA and Rosyth made her invincible to U-boat packs, and when the crossword was submitted, Stirling Castle was by contrast a sitting duck for the Luftwaffe in Heraklaeon harbour, Crete with a huge vulnerable contingent of British and Commonwealth troops aboard when the RN, to avoid further loss, announced evacuation to Alexandria, fortunately, however, although the crossword was submitted the previous week just after Bismarck was sunk/scuttled, in good British tradition the crossword had to wait its turn for publication, by which time the bird was safely in the Egyptian nest! Crete, a story where scant interest was paid to the Geneva convention by both sides! talk about matches devoid of referees! But that’s war for you! It was also, arguably the critical point where the balance began to swing in the Allies’ favour! Both ships survived the war with outstanding service rendered because our intelligence was a tiny fraction better than Germany’s! This crossword can be found on both my Home Page and on my Preview App for the War Years – a unique discovery in my book, and the crossword is masterful too and cleverly deceptive! Churchill did not care much for cryptic crosswords either! Another plus for the opposition! Yet, Hitler helped us too of course, mindful of the Baltic convoy approaching Archangelsk headed by The Royal S. and already regarding Crete as his reverse Arnhem! a costly paradrop too far in his eyes bringing a certain amount of disunity to the boots on the ground and what was remaining in the air! and nothing was to delay or inhibit Barbarossa and the invasion of Russia!
David Akenhead, former Crossword Consultant to The Times operating under licence from Times Newspapers (UK) Limited and as CEO Akenhead crosswords
Read all about it in Home, NEWS (revised) and EXTRA! We have chalked up TODAY Over 87,600 Views! together with FREE Samples from Every Month of World War 2 to attract followers! With our fragile world seemingly in crisis mode, to paraphrase Voltaire, the health of my garden is paramount! A good third of my viewership is atributable directly or indirectly to Facebook, ditto a third to Linked-In. We have taken a blow like many, but like the Windmill Theatre in Soho during The War, at least we “never closed” and right now we are bouncing back!! My games and crosswords remain excellent mental, as well as physical, therapy for anyone looking to benefit from Juvenal’s immortal prescription – “orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano” – “your prayer must be for a sound mind in a sound body!” I’ll second that! When we return to similar figures below enjoyed earlier, I shall post accordingly – DA
Top Visitors
| Rank | Hits | Flag | Country | City | Agent | Platform | Version | |
| 1 | 46 |  |
China | Guangyuan | Chrome | OS X | 10.9.4 | |
| 2 | 10 |  |
United Kingdom | Unknown | Chrome | Windows | 10.0 | |
| 3 | 10 |  |
Netherlands | Unknown | Chrome | Windows | 10.0 | |
| 4 | 10 | |
Netherlands | Unknown | Chrome | Windows | 10.0 | |
| 5 | 4 | |
Netherlands | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 6 | 2 |  |
India | Chennai | Chrome | Linux | Unknown | |
| 7 | 2 |  |
Germany | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 8 | 2 |  |
United States | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 9 | 2 |  |
Russian Federation | Unknown | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 10 | 2 | |
Russian Federation | Unknown | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 11 | 2 | |
Germany | Bonn | Chrome | Linux | Unknown | |
| 12 | 2 | |
United States | Provo | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 13 | 1 | |
United Kingdom | Unknown | Chrome | OS X | 10.9.3 | |
| 14 | 1 | |
United Kingdom | Unknown | Firefox | Windows | 10.0 | |
| 15 | 1 | |
United Kingdom | Unknown | Firefox | Windows | 10.0 | |
| 16 | 1 | |
Russian Federation | Unknown | Safari | OS X | 10.15.6 | |
| 17 | 1 | |
United Kingdom | Unknown | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 18 | 1 |  |
Greece | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 19 | 1 | |
United States | Nanuet | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 20 | 1 | |
United States | Seattle | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 21 | 1 | |
China | Zhengzhou | UC Browser | Android | 8.1.0 | |
| 22 | 1 | |
United States | Nanuet | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 23 | 1 | |
United States | Chicago | Firefox | Windows | 6.1 | |
| 24 | 1 | |
United States | Boardman | Chrome | Linux | Unknown | |
| 25 | 1 | |
Greece | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Yesterday: | 25 | 107 |
|---|
| Thursday 23rd September: | 151 | 294 |
|---|
| Wednesday 22nd September: | 159 | 286 |
|---|
| Tuesday 21st September: | 205 | 366 |
|---|
| Wednesday 1st September: | 164 | 272 |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 31st August: | 536 | 937 |
24th October, 2021 – Visits to date: 87,703 – Our international, unbiased reputation speaks for itself.
Top Ten Countries – 1. USA Gold 2. China Silver 3. Germany Bronze 4. Russian Federation 5. Ireland 
6. Netherlands 7. India 8. France 
9. United Kingdom 10. Greece
Most consistent visitors:
Bonn & Berlin Scottsdale & Boardman & Buffalo & Los Angeles & Houston & Washington & New York & Seattle & San Jose & Ashburn Dublin 
Singapore Beijing & Zhengzhou Glasgow & London 
Mount Pearl & Toronto & Montreal Moscow & Rostov-on-Don 
Tokyo 
Rio & São Paulo Mumbai 
Port Elizabeth 
Hobart & Sydney & Perth Paris Amsterdam 
Rivne & Kyiv 
Venezia 
Madrid 
Zurich Athens
23rd out of an original field of 800 plus, wasn’t bad going! ‒ David Akenhead
Thank you all – Keep on truckin’!
Looking on the bright side (and not new), Pimm’s No. 1 time in order! (8) OPTIMISM
Wise words from a beacon of light in a troubled world:
“Come in I’ll give ya shelter, shelter from the storm” Bob Dylan, 17th September 1974
A few of my own efforts within the crossword spectrum:
With it, junior flying officer latching on to neutron star lost direction (7) POPULAR
Card-player’s choice, perhaps? (5) IDEAL
Whose lost pocket then? (7) LOCKETS
Learnt in game (Scrabble), substituting a ‘C’ for an ‘E’ giving PROJECTOR (5,7) MAGIC LANTERN
Invest in E-commerce ‒ very concentrated! (9) INTENSIVE
Curiously pre-dated déjà vu, all said and done (8) DEPARTED
Our Town’s man caught by being at a loss (11) BEWILDERING
Mayday! Mayday! Heavens above! (6,6) SKYLAB MONDAY
Puts up with objective dependent on zero American involvement? Remarkable! (10) STUPENDOUS
French shepherd’s last to witness rumen distortion by one of the flock in the process (11) NUREMBERGER
Toast drunk to Christopher Sly, the old weasel! (5) STOAT
To be, or not to be? As the saying goes! (7) PROVERB
Seesaw? Witness split lesson (7) PROVERB
Elementary, my dear Watson! (11) MATHEMATICS
Mark of approval for quiet when alien is instructed to return (5) QUITE
Verity hurt, in retrospect, about Trump’s lead (5) TRUTH
Trump perhaps misdirected earnest with hesitation (9) EASTERNER
Encountered a Ford compadre hands-on type (10) METACARPAL
Ruffled thin B quest E-game (3,6,6) THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT
Dead ringer for the Old Man of the River at Yuletide (5,8) SAINT NICHOLAS
All French dream with spilt ink – Klasse! (9) REVERENCE
Melodious goings-on, so diverse! (4-4) SING-SONG
Hanging, for example (6) ENDING
Bit like the Ogre grinding the Old Lady to make his bread, to coin the phrase! (7) BITCOIN
Girl set on screwing the books (8) MISSPENT
Carnivorous variant (11) CORONAVIRUS
Retreat more suited to Bonaparte than Ophelia (9) MONASTERY
Oysterman’s bats sanctuary (9) MONASTERY
Story name possibly to rival “The Monk’s Tale” (9) MONASTERY
Hold your horses! debit curtailed? Awkward (4) BIDE
Antipodean fliers? Disastrous! I saw coarse failures ultimately (11) CASSOWARIES
Rook moves capturing a horse, one that jumps in more ways than one! (8) KANGAROO
Lofty pull! Flying grouse hit! (9) RIGHTEOUS
Wildly I simulate, consumed to the core, vibes! (7) STIMULI
A question asked by Akash Shrivastava in the Cryptic Crossword Society and my obvious answer!
How should a beginner approach solving the cryptic crossword? (7,7,3,12) SWEDISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
This also appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald (a journal where I was once Reader), on Monday 28th December (love it!)
Going off course in tossing the caber, ran through the crowd (8) ABERRANT
Oppressive money-grabbing as a wrong’un found among mad oxen (9) EXTORTION
Thaleischweiler-Fröschen (15-8) and Bergruine-Steinenschloss (9-14)
David Akenhead, CEO Akenhead crosswords, 24th October, 2021
Hits: 4