Answer for clue #9, the FINAL CLUE

After you transpose the answers to each clue in the boxes on the clue sheet, go back to each clue. On each one, a different letter is raised up from the baseline of the rest, like superscript. On clue #1, it only happens once: the number 2. But on clue #2, every letter “n” is raised up. On clue #3, every letter “d” is raised up. When you write out, in order, every letter that is raised from clue to clue (including clue #9, the Final Clue), you’ll spell 2ND COLUMN. Looking at the answers you transposed onto the Final Clue, if you take the second column only, you’ll notice a pattern: VIIVIIVII, which in Roman numerals spells 777.

The answer, and combination to the lock, is 777.