Primitive Crossword Days

Long, long ago, when I was still in school, our English teacher told us about a crossword puzzle contest, sponsored by one of the literary publications, which student and teachers could enter. The prizes must have been fabulous because I remember working hard to try to find the answers. I think I may have been the only one in the class who took him up on the challenge. It's so hard to think of now, but back then, the only way you could find an answer to anything you didn't know was to look it up in BOOKS. And a big part of the whole process was to find the proper book. There was no real way to know whether the answer could be found in an Atlas, an encyclopedia, a Who's Who, a dictionary, either biographical or geographical, or any of the myriad of other research volumes. A big part of any English exam back then was focused on choosing the correct reference work to use to find any given piece of information. Guess wrong and you lost credit for the question. Anyway, I completed the puzzle except for the part depending on one word. The teacher also was missing the same word. I remember the word: it was sere. I remember feeling disappointed because I hadn't been able to find the word. Ironically enough, I suppose, I am now all too familiar with the meaning of it.