Mister magus, I know you do not like the crossword answer ELHI, referring to school grades K through 12. I don't like it either. It is not a word and it never appears anywhere outside of crossword puzzles. Today's puzzle included TELCO, for "AT&T, briefly." I'm guessing that TELCO is another word that we will never see anywhere except in a crossword puzzle.
Occasionally a puzzle creator will wind up with a combination of letters that do not make a word but he keeps them because, overall, the puzzle is well-crafted and clever and it would be too difficult to change that particular section of the grid. He then has to find a clue which makes sense. Unfortunately for those of us who object to ELHI, that answer now appears in puzzles quite often. I'm guessing we haven't seen the last of TELCO either.