I WANT SOME POPCORN AND SOME COTTON CANDY AND…

by Francis Heaney

Solution: SECOND SUBSEQUENT WORD

The puzzle is not a comparison between the top and bottom halves of the sheet as initially expected, but a comparison between the unlined sheet and the lined sheet given out later. The ten differences between those two pages are (reading from top to bottom and left to right):

A hatband is added at (V,J)

The T on the sign is capitalized at (T,F)

A glob of cotton candy has flipped left-to-right at (E,U)

A dot on the signature is higher at (J,L)

An extra piece of popcorn is at (J,S)

The top edge of the pie-eating banner is higher at (V,H)

A car on the roller coaster is missing at (V,L)

The turtle is smiling slightly at (K,E)

The bottom end of the lollipop stick has vanished at (N,F)

An extra diagonal line is visible on the trash can at (I,U)

The letters unused in any coordinates are still used (as specified in the instructions): They spell CAESAR IX. Caesar shifting all the other letters nine spaces forward in the alphabet gives the coordinate pairs:

(E,S)

(C,O)

(N,D)

(S,U)

(S,B)

(E,Q)

(E,U)

(T,N)

(W,O)

(R,D)

Appropriate ordering of letters gives the answer phrase SECOND SUBSEQUENT WORD.