Crossword Genius

Article getting serious towards the end (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

astern

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'towards the end' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'article getting serious' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'article' could be 'a' (the indefinite article in English) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'serious' could be 'stern' (I've seen this before) and 'stern' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for astern that I've seen before include "at the vessel's rear" , "State of S central US" , "Towards a ship's rear" , "Towards rear of a vessel" , "Behind (naut.)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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