23
$\begingroup$ 
       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 
     __________________________________
 1  |  T  N  R  C 18  P  1  2  L 19  Y
 2  | 14  E 25  A  D  D 10  Q  9  B  D
 3  | 20  2  R  V  5 12  C  7  3  P  T
 4  |  L  M 11  R 22  V  S  1  Y  3  C
 5  |  R  X  A  6  Z  8 22  G 10 15  I
 6  |  J  B  2 14  H 25  S  M  7  5 24
 7  |  5  F  8  O  5  K  N  8 12 18  U
 8  |  V 11  G  Q  4  Y 26  H  T  W  B
 9  | 13  I  4 17  R  U  A  J  P  8 21
10  |  S  E  E 20 16  E  O 23  5  3  L
11  |  O  4 19  X  9  N  D  1  R  6  H

First take the first of Roman numeral V,
Then second from second, it's easy you see.
Follow that up with the last of the second,
A Fourth: fifth of sixth, or so it is reckoned.
The next can be found in the middle of ten.
What's next? Third of three gets added on then.
Follow that pattern, append fourth of four,
Choose second of nine next, of this I am sure.
At ninth, we tack on the second of one,
And add on the third of eight (nearly done),
End with the start of second to last,
And join them together (I'm sure you'll be fast).
Now, follow these steps with an observant mind,
And all going well, ___ ________ you'll find!

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1
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I liked this one because it has a lot of red herrings that most everyone would get at first. $\endgroup$
    – Xandawesome
    Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 20:57

1 Answer 1

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11
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RED HERRINGS

I dont think this answer needs much explanation.

EDIT:

Previous solution is wrong. True solution is:

THE SOLUTION

How:

A of B in each row of the poem refers to letter A of row B of the poem itself.

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7
  • $\begingroup$ Hmmm... That doesn't seem right... $\endgroup$
    – Alconja
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 11:51
  • $\begingroup$ then there are way too many red herrings since even if you dont have the square you could still get "red herrings" as an answer just from the poem. $\endgroup$
    – The Dark Truth
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 11:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Alconja edited my answer. Is this better? $\endgroup$
    – The Dark Truth
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 12:05
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    $\begingroup$ And for completeness, in case people stumble across this later, there's three lots of red herrings: indexing into the rows of the grid, indexing into the columns, and indexing into the phrases (I.e. First take the first of "Roman numeral V") $\endgroup$
    – Alconja
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 13:12
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Great puzzle @Alconja, but I think this answer could do with some more explanation. You've explained the real solution, but it might also be nice to explain how you found what you first thought was the solution. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 16:49

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