Verbal Reasoning - Word-Number Codes 2

Answer 2 is correctly coded

The code begins and ends with the same symbol, so none of the other Answers would be worth grappling with

There would need to be new digits for C, I and L; and we only had 9 and 0 left. So this wouldn't quite have worked

Answer 3 is fine; the 'cop-outs' in Answers 1 & 2 were false, and meanwhile the last word in Answer 4 was miscoded as MUCUS.
The music might have been LOUD as well, but that would have been too obvious from the tail of the original phrase

Various other words may have turned up, but Lord Lucan appears correctly in Answer 1 only.
The renegade Lord allegedly dsappeared elsewhere than the Canal ... but has yet to be found!

BORROWDALE (in scenic Cumbria) is the destination, if you check it thoroughly; Arrowtown (in the south island of New Zealand) would be possible but inaccurate, Whitstable would need an I which we don't have available in this Question, and Brownslade, while containing possible letters within plausible word-shapes, was simply made up for the occasion

Answer 3 is feasible with the next available digit, 9, taking on duty as 'G'.
It's 'just letters and numbers' in a situation like this, so in theory it could work in almost any language, though you would only ever have words in their English form in an 11+-style test, of course, as it would be unfair and at least potentially offputting otherwise.
Meanwhile, Polish itself uses the Roman alphabet ~ generally rather as we do, but their word-shapes are often nothing like ours ... The EU in Polish is 'Unia Europejska', which is recognizable enough but already needs more than 10 different code digits. Just as well you are not required to code into/from foreign languages, as wartime spies would routinely do. (Japanese posed a particular problem for its own speakers, let alone anyone trying to 'crack' it: they have not just one alphabet, but a mixture of no fewer than three!)

Answer 4 is the only correctly coded one: some even needed letters that were not available!

List 2 would include RUMP STEAK, SPAM, PASTA and PEARS, which all seem reasonably mainstream.
List 1 contained SPARE HEATER PARTS (probably better sourced in a hardware shop or online), PRAM STRAPS and MATHS SHEETS ... hardly the first things one thinks of on entering a supermarket; List 3 contained STREAMERS, MARKER STAMPS and PUPPETS (perhaps a fancy-dress or party-goods shop might offer a wider selection of these); List 4 contained SHARK MEAT, PARAKEETS and MEERKAT KEEPER'S APPARATUS which are presumably more the province of a pet shop

The numbers in Answer 4 are transposed (Othello has Helen's 'key', and vice-versa; despite the misleading spacing) ~ look for the telltale double L and S in the second line.
All the others are fine. It's amazing what can be done with just two handsful of letters, and English has twice-and-a-half (or so) as many to play with.
You will have noticed from these examples, which clearly stretch you a lot more widely than actual middle school will do, that 'the same old letters' tend to crop up more frequently. The rarer and more colorful consonants such as J, Z and Q (which, of course, has to lug its own telltale U around with it) tend to feature less commonly in coding drills ~ precisely because they draw attention to themselves and are harder to hide.
Anyway, we hope you had some fun cudgeling your wits against these puzzles!