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Because I want to make my trips to the Grocery Store™ on 3rd street more efficient, it would be beneficial to memorize which foods go in which aisles. So I made sure to ask an employee for the aisles of various food items (and a puzzle book). Unfortunately, I have a bad memory, so I forget which aisles some of the food items belong in. But I'll try to write down what I do remember. Can anyone help me complete my list?

  1. Apples - ?
  2. Bananas - Aisle 2
  3. Potatoes - Aisle 3
  4. Milk - Aisle 2
  5. Cheese - Aisle 1
  6. Red velvet cake - ?
  7. Italian sausage - Aisle 4
  8. Eggs - Aisle 4
  9. Buns - ?
  10. Puzzle book - Aisle 1
  11. Tomatoes - Aisle 2
  12. Pizza lunchables - Aisle 2
  13. Hungarian goulash TV dinner - ?
  14. Ramen - Aisle 4
  15. Milk - Aisle 1
  16. Garlic butter - Aisle 1
  17. Loaf of bread - ?
  18. Humongous genetically engineered watermelon the size of a 10 year-old child - Aisle 2
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    $\begingroup$ Notice that there are 2 "milk"s (number 4 and 15) but their aisle number is different. $\endgroup$
    – athin
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 1:00
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    $\begingroup$ @athin Oops, I must've asked it twice because I have a bad memory :) $\endgroup$
    – Riley
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 1:00
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    $\begingroup$ @AustinWeaver I don't know man, I just want my groceries :) $\endgroup$
    – Riley
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 1:21
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    $\begingroup$ For a nominal fee, the Grocery on 1st Ave. will deliver all that stuff right to your door. $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 1:32
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    $\begingroup$ I'm laughing at how #18 messes with any attempt to count letters/types of letters. $\endgroup$
    – Phylyp
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 1:41

2 Answers 2

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Great puzzle! The double milk gave it away.

The answer

An image

Explanation

look at the max number of repeated letters in that item. Next note that milk has to be consistent with itself, and that every known item refers to the max number of repeated letters of the item above. Hence shift everything up by one (credits to @wolfram42).

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  • $\begingroup$ You've definitely got the gist of it, but there's one small piece you're missing. Hint: rot13(Gur gehr nvfyr ahzore bs n sbbq vgrz qbrf abg qrcraq ba gur beqre V nfx gurz. Fbzr yngreny guvaxvat znl or vaibyirq) :) Also to be pedantic, you forgot #13 $\endgroup$
    – Riley
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 3:15
  • $\begingroup$ @Riley does your comment signify that he got the missing Aisle numbers correct or incorrect? or does it not signify? $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 4:27
  • $\begingroup$ @Chowzen The aisle numbers in this answer are technically incorrect, although the explanation is extremely close to the correct answer. $\endgroup$
    – Riley
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 4:43
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    $\begingroup$ Rot13(V gnxr vg lbhe zrzbel jnf fb onq lbh nppvqragnyyl fuvsgrq nyy gur nvfyr ahzoref qbja. Fb nccyrf ner va nvfyr gjb, naq onananf va guérir) $\endgroup$
    – wolfram42
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 6:34
  • $\begingroup$ @wolfram42 You got it! I'll accept this answer if that explanation is added. $\endgroup$
    – Riley
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 11:57
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Not an answer per se, but hopefully this helps someone?

enter image description here

EDIT: added
(A) original line number
(C) number of characters of item

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    $\begingroup$ Kudos @Riley for the nice "-" delimiter. :) $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 2:03
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    $\begingroup$ Only problem sorting it by Aisle is that Milk appears twice in different aisles so it might have something to do with the order of the items in the original list? $\endgroup$
    – NL628
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 2:04
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    $\begingroup$ Sure, @NL628 it might! I just thought that maybe seeing them grouped may give some insight to someone (myself included), and wanted to share. $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 2:07
  • $\begingroup$ Yep +1 I think it's pretty helpful :D $\endgroup$
    – NL628
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 2:16

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