13
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Grasshopper, in order to know the answer you must first figure out the question.

H, H, D, P, ?                     (2)
P, L, T, Q, P, H, H, ?            (5)
R, C, C, U, B, A, ?               (9)
A, K, Q, J, T, N, E, ?           (11)
M, V, E, M, J, S, ?              (14)
D, P, N, G, C, M, ?              (15)
M, K, S, P, S, ?                 (16)
Y, C, A, G, ?                    (18)
A, T, G, C, L, V, ?              (48)
Z, O, T, T, F, F, S, S, E, N, ? (112)  
H, H, L, B, B, C, ?             (613)
A, A, N, S, A, ?             (371017)

Hint 1:

The answer is 3 letters long

Hint 2 (Bounty Hint): 

H, H, D, P, ?, Z.                     (2)  
M, K, S, PH, S, ?, DP, DD, DQ...     (16)

Also anyone who has a better title LMK

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  • $\begingroup$ Something simple like "Discover the missing letters" would probably suffice. is there supposed to be a letter missing from the fourth line? - looks like you already fixed that. :) $\endgroup$ – Bailey M Jul 24 '15 at 20:02
  • $\begingroup$ @BaileyM It isn't just about discovering the letters, the numbers are also involved $\endgroup$ – qwertylpc Jul 24 '15 at 20:03
  • $\begingroup$ Is the question made from discovering the missing letters? $\endgroup$ – Doge Jul 24 '15 at 20:27
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    $\begingroup$ Grasshopper, eh? $\endgroup$ – AJL Jul 25 '15 at 1:18
  • $\begingroup$ @qwertylpc Well, you've inspired another puzzle from me: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/18363/… $\endgroup$ – VictorHenry Jul 26 '15 at 0:59
19
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Alright, I'm going to start a partial answer, we'll see if it goes anywhere.

Missing letters:

Edit: Thanks to minitech for number 6! Thanks to Len for number 1! Thanks to Geobits for number 7!

1. H (Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera) - Cronus and Rhea's Children
2. O (Point, Line, Triangle, ..., Heptagon, Octagon) - Polygon by number of sides
3. I (Russia, Canada, China, United States, Brazil, Australia, India) - Countries by Area
4. S (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ..., Eight, Seven) - Cards
5. U (Mercury, Venus, Earth, ..., Saturn, Uranus) - Planets
6. M (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, ..., Massachusetts, Maryland) - US States by Ratification Date
7. B (McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Burger King) - Largest Fast Food Chains in the World by number of stores
8. R (Yankees, Cardinals, Athletics, Giants, Red Sox) - Most World Series titles
9. L (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra) - Signs of the zodiac
10. T (Zero, One, Two, Three, ..., Nine, Ten) - Counting to ten
11. N (Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, ..., Carbon, Nitrogen) - Periodic Table Elements
12. E (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe) - Continents by Area

Cleaning up the list and adding the numbers gives us:

H 2
O 5
I 9
S 11
U 14
M 15
B 16
R 18
L 48
T 112
N 613
E 371017

EDIT: From Deusovi's answer below

"Deciphered the numbers based off VictorHenry's answer! All I had to do was... add a couple suggestive spaces:"

H 2
O 5
I 9
S 11
U 14
M 15
B 16
R 18
L 4 8
T 1 12
N 6 13
E 3 7 10 17

Each set of numbers tells us where that letter is located in the final phrase:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 131415161718
T H E L O N E L I E S T N U M B E R
So the final answer is ONE!

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  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Maryland $\endgroup$ – Ry- Jul 25 '15 at 4:24
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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps "Cronus sired six children by Rhea: Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus in that order" $\endgroup$ – Len Jul 27 '15 at 3:23
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    $\begingroup$ #7 is B or BK, at least according to this list. I see them in different orders on a couple other sites, but they may be measuring differently. I only add the BK option because the hint has some with double letters, but I assume it's just B. $\endgroup$ – Set Big O Jul 27 '15 at 16:03
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    $\begingroup$ I don't know what the numbers are, but the letters anagram to OH NUMBER LIST, or something along those lines. $\endgroup$ – Set Big O Jul 27 '15 at 16:16
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    $\begingroup$ @Geobits it could also be HI LOST NUMBER $\endgroup$ – tfitzger Jul 27 '15 at 21:31
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+50
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Deciphered the numbers based off VictorHenry's answer! All I had to do was...

add a couple suggestive spaces:
H [2]
O [5]
I [9]
S [11]
U [14]
M [15]
B [16]
R [18]
L [4 8]
T [1 12]
N [6 13]
E [3 7 10 17]
Each set of numbers tells us where that letter is located in the final phrase. It spells out THE LONELIEST NUMBER, so the final answer is ONE!

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  • $\begingroup$ Nicely done! I was going nowhere with those numbers, but I knew someone would solve it! $\endgroup$ – VictorHenry Jul 28 '15 at 14:29
  • $\begingroup$ @VictorHenry and Deusovi Seeing as you both contributed a lot, I am not sure I know how to best award the bounty and the correct answer. I have posted about it on Puzzling Meta here: meta.puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/3209/…, if either of you guys have ideas please let me know $\endgroup$ – qwertylpc Jul 28 '15 at 14:38
  • $\begingroup$ @qwertylpc Well in this particular case, several of my answers were crowdsourced, and I feel like Deusovi made the major leap, at least as far as the "lateral thinking" part of the puzzle went. Makes sense to me to give it to Deusovi. $\endgroup$ – VictorHenry Jul 28 '15 at 14:57
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    $\begingroup$ @JamieBarker You do know that serial upvoting is not allowed on SE and can get you into trouble? $\endgroup$ – mmking Jul 29 '15 at 14:31
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    $\begingroup$ @JamieBarker You mean 2 or more people? No. It is considered serial upvoting if you go around and upvote one person several times in a short period of time. And by "a couple of upvotes", I'm assuming you mean more than one or two. Do read the meta post I linked to. $\endgroup$ – mmking Jul 29 '15 at 14:47

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