Crack the Clue III

Crack the Clue III is a clue-seeker event available in-game since 23 September 2022. This event will stay in-game indefinitely, similar to the previous Crack the Clue events (I, II).

Completion of Crack the Clue III will grant players pieces of the Robes of Ruin and the infinite money bag. For instructions on how to acquire them, see here.

Crack the Clue III was officially announced on 21 September 2022 via a tweet from Old School RuneScape's Twitter account, with a video narrated by Woox:

Unlike previous Crack the Clues (I & II), which were created by Mod Mat K, Crack the Clue III was crafted by the player named Woox, who is one of the most well known players in the community as one who extensively attempted to crack Mat K's clues.

On 23 September 2022, four initial clues were released simultaneously.

• Clue #1.
• Clue #2.
• Clue #3.
• Clue #4.

Additional hints were given in a game update on 25 January 2023, and more were given every week afterward.

Woox announced on the Crack the Clue Discord on 17 January 2023 that there are a total of 24 steps in Crack the Clue III.

Woox has given an indication, with an announcement on 26 October 2022, stating:

"I've decided to let you know what time estimates I initially anticipated, and what the difficulty has been balanced around:

• First step completion: Almost instantly.
• Second step completion: 2-6 hours.
• After first 24 hours: 2-3 steps completed.
• After first 7 days: 5-7 steps completed.
• After first 30 days: 10-14 steps completed.
• Estimates beyond the first 30 days were more tricky, but full completion was anticipated after ~1 year."

Combining the initial four clues (by reading the letters on them from top to bottom) will lead the player to the Mysterious Old Man's house in eastern Falador, where he is found upstairs. Players must speak to him whilst only having the required items in their inventory.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

Between the two you will find a match.
Easy, you think, but there is a catch...

YPWAIETOAENRMHMGEN MIVWDMKDTCBANGBFKW
NQLLWQMIRLVFSDROTN VKIIAAKIRLHADHESVG
LINVADMCURYBOFEUAI DRULRHTDEESEBREPYE
VRBOOHHSDEWEAANANN EERATOLITEJEPEPZFN
ANHIITBICPATELTTMH FEKETCHPMSNAFEWNQM
SFTOAINWLXARKLANFE NEWEDSANENTEGQLHUA
OENIRSRONOFKGVEKAR TLBGONGUWHILPAFNAS
EHERESSOVEMDGJTCWS RDMCORRODAPJNLSAWY
TASEWNHEVGRANOKNOT SHTOELHTICUTMLHOIO
HRFRONLRATTATTIQAT ANEUOASGNHSFALEHND

By overlaying all the alphabetical characters from the book of folklore (without spaces) on top of Match-Catch in a 20 x 18 grid, players will find that the matching characters from both spell out BANANATINOREWOOLTIARASTEELSETLGONIONASHESNED, leading to Ned in Draynor Village.

If the correct conditions are met, he will tell the player:

Good work! I have new information to share with you. Listen carefully, now!

A place 65 steps forward and 17 to the right needs an inspection.

The weather vane up high will guide you in the right direction.

Under the ground lies the next clue you seek.

Getting it out requires a little technique.

After Ned's instructions, an interface will open showing the next clue:

13 N 2 N 16 E 1 S 1 S 2 S 2 W 1 W 9 S 0
1 N 1 N 1 E 1 N 1 N 1 N 3 N 1 E 1 E 1 E 0
1 W 1 S 0
1 S 1 S 1 S 1 S 0
0
1 E 1 E 0
3 N 4 E 0
1 S 3 W 1 W 1 S 1 S 1 W 1 W 1 W 1 W 1 W 2 N 1 W 10 W 0
0
1 S 3 W 1 W 3 W 5 W 1 N 3 W 1 W 2 N 2 N 3 N 5 E 6 S 0
1 E 1 S 2 S 0
2 E 3 S 2 E 0
1 N 1 N 1 N 1 N 1 N 4 N 3 N 1 E 5 S 2 S 1 S 1 S 1 S 1 S 0

As Ultimate Ironmen cannot create item sets, they are currently unable to complete this step.

By putting the text from the book of folklore as is (without any modifications), transposing the text from the Match-Catch clue and then overlaying the result, players noticed common letters that could be used to form words that corresponded to various F2P items and an NPC. By following the process above, the string THREADTIARAIRONARROWORNATELEGSTROUTCAMARST can be seen, leading to Camarst in Ferox Enclave.

If the correct conditions are met, he will tell the player:

South of the forest lies a dark hole of great danger.

To the northeast, a man in a red shirt - no stranger!

If you find him, he may be able to give you a clue.

But the man himself will not know how to help you.

After Camarst's instructions, an interface will open showing the next clue:

2 NW 5 NE 2 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SW 1 SW 1 SW
1 SE 2 NE 1 NE 2 NE 1 NE 1 NE 1 NE 1 NE
1 NE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SW 4 SW 3 SW 1 SE
1 SW 1 SW 1 SW 1 SW 1 SE 2 NE 2 SE 11 NE
1 NW 1 NE 4 SE 1 SW 1 SW 1 SW 10 SW 2 SE
1 SW 2 SW 1 SW 1 SW 1 NW 3 NW 2 NW 2 NW
1 SW 1 SE 1 SW 1 SW 1 SW 2 NW 2 NW 1 NW
2 NW 1 NW 3 NW 1 NW 1 NW 2 NE 1 SE 1 SE
2 NE 3 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 NE 1 SE 1 SE 1 NE
1 NW 1 NW 1 NW 1 NW 3 NW 1 NW 3 NW 1 NE
4 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 SE 1 NE

Players were able to combine both the Directions-NESW and Directions-2 clues by interweaving the directions written, which resulted in an image containing the combined outline of the 5 items required for the next step (Limpwurt root, Staff, Chef's hat, Chisel and a Spade).

The dialogues of both Ned and Camarst when given the lore clues directed to a specific tile in Lumbridge castle next to where Hans pauses his routine.

If the correct conditions are met, digging at the aforementioned spot will open an interface will showing the next clue:

Start south. End west. 

10 11 22 5 5 17 22 21 14 22 11 10 3 14 22 10 3
4 4 22 17 10 16 3 4 21 16 17 16 10 17 22 5 10

-1 +11 +20 +6 +13 -3 +7 -4 +21 +16 +8 -3 +15 -2 -5 +4
-7 +5 +7 +11 +3 -2 +12 +17 +7 +3 +17 -3 +11 +7 +6 +21
+2 +13 +11 -5 +14 +3 +1 +13 +1 +20 +8 +10 +6 -6 +14 
+3 +11 +2 +6 +16 +8 -3 -7 +15 -1 +2 +10 -4 +12 +12
+11 +17 +18 +2 -4 +15 +2 +5 +22 -3 +5 +1 +15 +11 -7
+2 -9 +2 +17 +17 -3 +2 +5 +14 +17 +5 -2 +11 +6 +14

The first part of the clue, Start south. End west., refers to the Draynor Sewers, which have a southern and western exit. The set of 34 numbers in the second part of the clue refers to the 34 large sewer pipes in the sewers. When roofs are enabled in the game settings, additional sets of sewer pipes become visible above the player; the amount of total tiles one of these pipes take up match the given numbers in the second part of the clue.

By placing the shape of each pipe in the order given in the second part of the clue, there would be a total of 92 segments of the entire pipe lined up (the same amount of numbers in the third part of the clue). Count the amount of tiles used, and then counting again once the pipe turns would result in the following set of numbers:

6, 6, 1, 3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 4, 4, 1, 4, 3, 3, 9, 5, 8, 8, 8, 3,
1, 3, 1, 4, 5, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 5, 3, 3, 1, 6, 6, 2, 1, 2,
3, 5, 7, 8, 8, 7, 6, 2, 1, 3, 1, 3, 4, 8, 8, 5, 9, 3, 8, 6,
3, 3, 9, 2, 1, 3, 5, 3, 1, 3, 1, 4, 13, 3, 3, 4, 9, 3, 11, 3,
3, 6, 8, 3, 9, 5, 8, 8, 4, 4, 6, 5

Performing basic arithmetic with the third part of the clue would result in a new set of values, ex. 5, 17, 21, 9, 16, 2, 15, 4, etc. Doing this for all 92 numbers, and converting them to their corresponding letter in the alphabet (A=1, B=2, etc) results in the following: EQUIPBODYTIARADIAMONDAMULETBRONZEPLATEBODYORNATELEGSLEATHERBOOTSSEARCHWARDROBEBETWEENSYMBOLS

The resulting string instructs the player to wear the required items and search a wardrobe between symbols, referring to the wardrobe found in the north-west corner of Draynor Manor, which is between two magical symbols.

Unlike most of the other clues, players do not need to solely bring the required items to correctly discover the clue; wearing the correct set of items is sufficient.

Searching the wardrobe with the items equipped will result in a ghost speaking to the player, and receiving the hood of ruin:

Wooooo woooooo wooooooooo woooooooo woooooo
wooooooooo woooooo wooooo woooo wooooooooo woooooo
wooooo wooo wooooooo woooooo wooooooo wooooo wooo
woooo woooooooo

wooo wooooooooo woooooo woooooooo woooooo wooooooo
woooooooo woooooooo wooo wooo woooooo woooooo
wooooooo wooooooo wooo wooooooooo woooooooo
wooooooo wooooo.

Players must count the amount of o's in each "woo" of the ghost's message, and also utilise the previous solution to Start-South-Numbers, BODYTIARADIAMONDAMULETBRONZEPLATEBODYORNATELEGSLEATHERBOOTS.

The solution is acquired by counting the number of o's per word and selecting the letter at that position in a cumulative manner. For example, the first "woo" in the ghost's message contains five o's, so the first letter of the solution would be the fifth letter of the previous solution, "T". The next "woo" contains six o's, resulting in the letter "I". Continuing this until all the o's have been used will result in the string TILEBEERTROUTPOTSARDINEPOTATOTIARABETTY, leading to Betty in Port Sarim.

If the correct conditions are met, the player will receive one of the four final clues, as well as being given the robe bottom of ruin:

1/4
Once you have found the correct rotation.
16, 12, 39, 32, 1, 5, 50, 18, 9, 5, 27, 1, 23, 4,
44, 29, 3, 31, 1, 7, 4, 24, 1, 13, 7, 35, 16, 7,
1, 8, 5, 7, 8, 3, 2, 12, 4, 46, 3, 6, 3, 1, 45,
2, 2, 69, 5, 8, 38, 20, 3, 62, 2, 13, 14, 68, 3

After the previous steps had been completed, the Match-Catch clue was left with only certain letters remaining:

WTANRMMGENNDTNLADUYEVBOHHWEANANITBIELTSA
LANENSOEKEHESOEDEWHERANORFRNRTATTMIWDDCG
AIDERULHDEEBREEERTIEEENECPANNWSANENHUATL
BGUWAFNASMRDALSWYHTOELTITMLOIOANUGSAN

Starting at the first character W, players wrote down and converted the letter to its A1Z26 value, which in this case is 23. Moving 23 letters along the line of unused characters results in the next character H, which has an A1Z26 value of 8. The first word WHILST can be made with this process.

Once reaching the end of the line, wrap back around to the start and don't count the letters that were already used. Completing this process yields the riddle:

Whilst being somewhere deep within ancient land 
between fallen tree and hollow log you must stand 
first eat a banana and drink a regular beer 
then dance yawn shrug and wave to summon me there.

This leads the player to level 28 Wilderness just west of the Eastern Ruins.

Once the player has followed the instructions above, the Mysterious Old Man will appear and begin walking a certain path and doing emotes on certain tiles. Once at the end, he will tell the player not to forget their spade, after which he disappears. The path taken by the Mysterious Old Man:

4E 3N 4E 18N 5E Spin 
3E 4N Jump for Joy 
3N 4W 4N 2W Dig

Players then noticed that the distances the Mysterious Old Man walked in his path matched the straight section lengths in the Wilderness ditch. It was also noted that the directions he turned interacted with the changing "heights" of the ditch.

The 18 April hint stated, "Towards the east you will see the path extend", which was referring to extending the Mysterious Old Man's path in the Wilderness. By parsing the entire Wilderness ditch in the same format, then applying it as an extension to the Mysterious Old Man's path (including "spin[ning] at the bump" and "jump[ing] at the gap"), a full path was revealed across the Wilderness.

The cloak of ruin can be obtained by performing a series of emotes in order, while standing in the highlighted areas between the Bandit Camp mine and the Eastern Ruins, then digging in the final spot near the entrance to the Wilderness God Wars Dungeon.

The steps to be performed in order are:

1. Spin
2. Jump for Joy
3. Spin
4. Jump for Joy
5. Dig

Players using the third party RuneLite client may highlight the tiles in question using the Ground Markers plugin, through the following steps:

1. Expand the table below
2. Copy the import string to the system clipboard
3. Right-click the world map orb beneath the in-game minimap
4. Select the "Import Ground Markers" option
5. Confirm the transfer in the chatbox ( 1)…

   1

   Yes

If the correct conditions are met, the player will receive one of the four final clues, as well as being given the cloak of ruin:

3/4

Look west to find what you are looking for.

14, 23, 2, 94, 12, 13, 15, 2, 10, 4, 4, 1, 28, 42, 6, 29, 1,
11, 13, 20, 29, 29, 1, 19, 11, 20, 2, 29, 42, 6, 2, 10, 15,
1, 2, 13, 17, 26, 3, 7, 35, 8, 28, 13, 37, 18, 5, 7, 8, 13, 5,
6, 4, 2, 1, 3, 4, 21, 8, 10, 11, 18, 47, 14, 11, 6, 6, 26, 6

By first overlaying the first and the second original clues, then sorting the letters based on their horizontal position; doing the same for the third and fourth original clues, but flipping the resulting string along both the vertical and the horizontal axes; and finally combing the two resulting sequences, the player will be lead to Sir Vyvin on the 2^nd floor of the White Knights' Castle. Players must speak to him while only having the required items in their inventory.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

CW___F____________M___A__
_H_R___I___T__O_________S
PS_IAOT_____N___F_CR__U__
____A______RT_IFO_EM___ND
D____CAE_____N_S_O_PTM__I
IH_KY____NAG__E__O_RT__CU
A_IE____MN__K_GR___F_TH__
_R___________TE_NI_____GA
____I_F__H_____G__N__T___
__S_I_C____T__G____E___N_
_E_______CG___D__________

By reading the letters on the Missing-Letters clue received form Sir Vyvin, the clue spelled out the names of the 15 free-to-play skills when read vertically. Beginning at the first letter in a skill and then moving to the next letter in that skills name, the difference between them was found and converted into letters using the A1Z26 method, which resulted in the solution items and NPC.

Sir Vyvin's clue will lead the player to Miss Schism in Draynor Village. Players must speak to her while only having the required items in their inventory.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

________________ _____________ _______
_____ ___________ ____________________
__________ _____________ ________________
____________________________________
_____________________________________
______

-+-+++--+--+-++-+++-+--++-----++-++-++++-++---++-++

- M.O.M

The solution was found by first noticing that the underscores on the Plus-Minus clue fit the tile pattern of the wall in eastern Falador. Players counted the tiles and found that the endpoints of consecutive straight lines in the walls would give them a zig-zag pattern that matched the string of 51 +'s and -'s in the clue. This zig zag diagonal shape could then be applied to the clue received from the Mysterious Old Man to obtain a string of letters. These letters were then shifted by the two components: +/- and their tile distance from the previous tile to finally give this string of characters: IRONAXEUNCOOKEDBERRYPIEMITHRILSCIMITARBRUGSENBURSEN which revealed the items and the NPC, Brugsen Bursen.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

NW SE SW SE NW SE SW SE NW SE SW SE NE NE NW SW WAVE
SW NW SW NE SE SW NW SE SE NW SW NE SE NE NE CLAP
NW NW SW NW SE SE SW SW SW NW NW NE SW SE NE WAVE
NW SW NE NW SE NE SW NE SE SW SW NW NE SE SW SPIN
NW NE NE NE SE NW NW SE SW WAVE
SW NE NW NE SE SW NW SE NW YAWN
NW NW SE SE SW SE NE SW WAVE
SW SE SW NW SE SE NE NW NW NE SE SE SW SW NE YAWN
NE NE NE NE NW SE NE SE SE SW NW SE SW NE SE SPIN
NE NW SE NE SW SE SW SW SE NE SW SE NE NW SW CLAP
NE NE SW SE NW NE SE NE SE SW NW SW NE SE SW NW WAVE

The solution is found by beginning on the tile directly south of Brugsen Bursen where you received the Diagonal-Directions-Emotes clue. Players found that by following the directions, they were taken on a path around the floor of the Grand Exchange, stopping at the end of each set of directions to perform the subsequent emote.

Players using the third party RuneLite client may highlight the tiles in question using the Ground Markers plugin, through the following steps:

1. Expand the table below
2. Copy the import string to the system clipboard
3. Right-click the world map orb beneath the in-game minimap
4. Select the "Import Ground Markers" option
5. Confirm the transfer in the chatbox ( 1)…

   1

   Yes

Once the player has performed all 11 emotes in the correct order and on the correct tiles, they will end up on a tile directly east of Bob Barter for the final emote. Once the player performs the final emote, Bob Barter will initiate dialogue with the player, and an interface will open showing the next clue:

NOTE: This clue is solved simultaneously with the Numbers clue to receive the Final-Clue-2/4 along with the Socks of ruin.

? ? ? ? ? ? Laugh ? ? Bow
? ? ? ? Jump for Joy ? ? ? Spin ? Panic
? ? ? Yawn ? ? Think ? Raspberry ?

Overlaying the initial 4 clues on the world map, by placing the trees on the clues over the rare tree indicators on the map, will lead the player to three item spawns (a white apron in Port Sarim, an iron dagger in Lumbridge, a pair of leather gloves in Edgeville), and the information clerk in the north-west corner of the Varrock Museum. Players must speak to her whilst only having the required items in the their inventory.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

You are doing well, but your orientation must change.
Turn left to find a statue, furnace, fountain and range.
The first of what X have in common's what you need.
Bring Osman three of each and he will let you proceed.

Overlaying all 4 original clues onto the world map, scaling them down by 50% and rotating them by 45 degrees counter-clockwise, will align the X's on the clues to be on top of a furnace, fountain, statue, and range. This allows the 'plusses' to appear as crosses which overlaid perfectly onto certain shops. The player then buys 3 of the first common item shared between shops which gives the solution items.

Along with the information clerk's clue, this step will lead the player to Osman, Osman (The man who is not Osman) (during Contact!), or Selim (after completion of Beneath Cursed Sands), where they must speak to him whilst only having the required items in the their inventory.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

Three four five five four four five.
Those are the magic numbers where one will arrive.
At the very end one may see but not touch.
One will have to find another such...

165 -45 154.4 -7.1
41 126 110.3 94.4
113 151 -8.7 23.9
-111 41 73.8 95.8
-9 56 -66.9 -59.1
141 50 -5.0 9.6
-39 49 85.0 91.1

The Magic-Numbers clue refers to the free-to-play runes and the order in which they could be crafted: Air, Mind, Water, Earth, Fire, Body, Chaos (P2P to craft). Lines could then be drawn on the world map from rune spawns and rune altars which converged onto decoration items in certain places which could be 'seen but not touched' and so they 'found another such...' by gathering those items. The lines from the Chaos Altar and a chaos rune spawn in the Dark Warriors' Fortress converged on the crate in Port Sarim, giving the location.

The Magic-Numbers clue will lead the player to a certain crate in Port Sarim, where they must search it while only having the required items in the player's inventory.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

Every slice with a scimitar defines a collection,
with every adjacent pair defining a direction.
The index of every pair defines half the length.
Along with that there is a shift of minimum strength.

313
v^v^^^v^^v^^vv^^^v^vv^vvvvvv^v^vvv^^^^^^v^vv^^^^

- M.O.M

By paying close attention to the song Sea Shanty 2 for increases and decreases in pitch, the player will discover that they can relate the bars of the song and it's musical notes to the Match-Catch clue. They then can shift the string of characters by the 'V' and '^' characters found on the Scimitar-Shift clue. They will then be able to determine a string of letters TINORELOGSEGGEGGLOGSSKULLFUREGGFURBOWLCOALJULIET, which spells out the items to bring and reveals that the NPC is Juliet.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

4 6 2 0 12 10 ? 9 8 ?
4 6 6 9 ? 10 3 7 ? 9 ?
12 2 4 ? 8 12 ? 9 ? 7

The solution was found by examining the red lantern wall decorations on the 1st floor of the Stronghold of Security and matching the counts of the lanterns in each room with the numbers on the Numbers clue. This then created a path throughout the floor of the Stronghold. Players then matched the missing information represented by the '?'s on the clue with the information given by the Question-Mark-Emotes clue.

This results in finding the correct emotes to perform in the correct places of the 1st level of the Stronghold of Security.

Performing the correct emotes between the Gates of War in the correct order, and then searching the Gift of Peace after doing so, results in one of the four final clues being given, as well as being given the socks of ruin:

2/4

Everything will point toward the same location.

38, 18, 13, 11, 22, 24, 34, 11, 6, 1, 28, 27, 6, 6, 5, 28, 7,
12, 1, 18, 21, 27, 28, 9, 1, 32, 3, 3, 14, 22, 7, 31, 25, 14,
9, 1, 4, 11, 18, 18, 28, 17, 4, 3, 7, 5, 18, 13, 25, 11, 5, 4,
6, 5, 1, 24, 7, 16, 38, 36, 17, 4, 11, 2, 15, 14, 13, 4, 4

The solution is found by overlaying all four clues on top of each other on the X. This produces a radial grouping of emotes around the centre X. This can then be overlaid onto an area between level 33-40 Wilderness. The player then does the emotes in the same order as the in-game Emotes panel from top to bottom, left to right and in each of the correct craters that the X-alignment corresponds to. Once the player has done all 14 emotes in all 14 craters surrounding the centre one, the player must dig in the centre crater to reveal the next clue.

If the correct conditions are met, digging will open an interface showing the next clue:

TCFVVVRCCTVRXRCCDD
RGGTCCVCRCTCEFRRCS
VTRCCGRDVTFSRETVET
RDRDDSCCVSXERGGRRG
CCRREVRRECXECTCDVD
RTTRVCCRFESVRRGCGE
GTFFRCFTRFRRVVDVFR
VXGVDGVFCTETCRCTCX
CTTRVFDXFSTXTCVXET
RVTCXCEVXVCTRTECRV
GGDEFXCCRFVFRXRCGC

It was initially discovered that the 10 unique letters present in the Letter-Box formed a shape on the keyboard. The solution was found by rotating the arrangement of letters 45 degrees to the right, and arranging them from top to bottom and left to right:

TRCVGFRTGVCDRTVRCRCCVGTRDCCRVTTRDGVCCXFRESRCCRTGFVVCDR
TGVTVRCRCVCVGTRDCCRVTTRDCVGFRESFCXEXFVTFCXSERFCDFREXER
FCXEXCFSERERCCVFTRVCGTRDCXSERRTGVCDRVTTVRCRESFCXCVGDRT
VTTRDCVGFRCCVGDRTVTFEXEXCRRCEXCRTGVC

By moving between the given letters on a standard QWERTY keyboard layout, letters and numbers could be traced. For example, TRCVGF can be roughly traced into the shape of the number 6. The next letter, R, breaks away from the shape, and thus is considered a new character; tracing RTGVCD would yield the rough shape of the letter O.

Completing this tracing would result in the string 6ONIONS2IRONLONGSWORDS732COINSSIGISMUND, which instructs the player to bring the required items to Sigismund in Ferox Enclave.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

120, 109, 67, 62, 29, 16, 35, 100, 71, 92, 8, 87, 117, 98, 47,
1, 74, 77, 60, 37, 19, 31, 32, 10, 24, 90, 106, 118, 81, 40,
59, 53, 18, 58, 64, 6, 23, 63, 105, 112, 51, 84, 7, 17, 46,
68, 15, 38, 9, 91, 93, 76, 34, 78, 99, 27, 65, 61, 13, 116,
26, 30, 66, 119, 3, 14, 49, 69, 104, 28, 21, 89, 5, 85, 57
- M.O.M

The clue contains the numbers 1 to 120, which are out of order. By assigning a number to each potato plant in the potato field west of Fred the Farmer's house from top to bottom, left to right, a total of 135 potatoes are found. The valediction - M.O.M hints that the player must use the Match-Catch clue and lay the letters over each tile of the potato field, starting from the row where the first potato is (laying over the first column at the top and the second after).

Following the numbers from the clue, players must then match the number used for a potato to the assigned letter. For example, the numbers of the first row result in the letters HALFFULLSTRENGT, and continuing on will result in the solution to the clue, requiring the player to bring the listed items to the chemist in Rimmington.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

A solution to a problem can be difficult to find.
Sometimes absolutely nothing springs to your mind.
Once it's found it may seem like you were blind.
But in reality, the problem was just cleverly designed.

W_YFN_VNOUINERTRETEFOP
ENOIG_T__LPTT__YOVL_ELOL

The mention of the colours within the 10 May hint indicates the list of items from the previous clue, and the next two parts indicate the chatbox, hinting that examining the items is part of the solution; examining them in the order provided above, and reading the first character of each examine text gives "2AUKAHAS", which was indicated in the 3 May hint.

Using the information from the bottom of the clue and the examine texts, the location of each character from both locations appear to create zig-zags (with underscores indicating letters which are in the path of one), which was indicated in the 29 March hint.

In between these zig-zags, the list of items and Narf can be spotted, resulting in the solution.

If the correct conditions are met, an interface will open showing the next clue:

You have come far but have reached a dead end.
It is time to turn around and go back my friend.
The treasure was located at the beginning I'm afraid.
Go back there, and don't forget your spade!

(7), (6, 3, 2), (5), (11, 8), (1), (1, 10), (3),
(6, 2), (4, 5, 1), (5, 8, 3, 6, 7, 10, 4), (1),
(1, 6, 8, 5, 7), (6, 2), (3), (8), (1), (5, 1, 2, 4),
(7, 2, 12, 1), (2, 5), (1, 2), (8), (2, 6, 9)

Clue hunters noticed that there were 22 groups or sets of numbers on the clue. When the hint was given on 17 May, clue hunters were able to deduce that this clue was linked to music tracks. By reversing your progression through this 'chain' of clues from Narf back to the Chemist then to Sigismund and finally back to the level 36 wilderness pit used in the initial Emotes solution, a walking path could be made. By recording each song that is played as you traverse the path, 22 songs are found. With the list of songs in hand and the numbers on the clue, you can begin to spell out the answer. By taking the number on the clue in the set that it is in, and going to that song and to that index of the song name, you get a letter. For example, (7) is the only letter in the first set on the clue. By applying that to the first song that you interact with SCAPESOFT (with no spaces in track titles), your 7th letter is O. By continuing this process through the list of 22 songs, this message is revealed: ORNATEHELMGRAPESFEATHERAIRTIARALAWRUNENEEDLESHEARS. Taking these items in your inventory along with your spade which the clue mentioned, and digging at the same location as the beginning emotes clue, you will receive a final clue and the Gloves of ruin.

Players using the third party RuneLite client may highlight the tiles in question using the Ground Markers plugin, through the following steps:

1. Expand the table below
2. Copy the import string to the system clipboard
3. Right-click the world map orb beneath the in-game minimap
4. Select the "Import Ground Markers" option
5. Confirm the transfer in the chatbox ( 1)…

If the correct conditions are met, the player will receive one of the four final clues, as well as being given the gloves of ruin:

4/4

It is located not too far away from the shore.

1, 9, 6, 3, 5, 8, 4, 4, 16, 3, 81, 6, 35, 46, 16,
1, 3, 6, 55, 3, 17, 1, 3, 9, 12, 23, 8, 14, 1, 40,
3, 17, 1, 3, 15, 8, 30, 13, 1, 40, 3, 17, 21, 5, 23,
16, 5, 1, 4, 24, 7, 11, 6, 9, 20, 18, 40, 2, 3, 7

This step is the culmination of several clues, dubbed the 'Final Four'. The locations of where these clues were received is important.

This step also utilizes the four 'Original clues' in tandem with the 'Final four'.

• Final 1/4 obtained from Betty in Port sarim.
• Final 2/4 obtained from the Gift of peace in the Stronghold of security
• Final 3/4 obtained from a dig spot near the western entrance to the Wilderness godwars dungeon.
• Final 4/4 obtained from a dig spot in level 36 eastern wilderness where Emotes was solved.

The solution can be broken down into 3 main sections. These sections are rotations, dot alignment and examine texts.

A hint was released in the blogpost on 24 May 2023 which revealed information about how to start. Clue hunters figured out that to begin, each of the 'Original clues' numbered 1-4 would be aligned on the World map such that their X would stay fixed on their respective 'Final Four' locations of 1-4. I.e. the original clue #1 was aligned such that it's X was fixed on where the Final 1/4 was obtained from Betty in Port sarim. This is true for all four 'Original clues' and all four 'Final Four' clues.

Another hint was released through the blogpost on 1 June 2023 which revealed 20 dots with no text. Clue hunters naturally began to attempt to match these dots on the hint to dots on the 'Original clues'. This was successful and resulted in a specific degree rotation for each of the four 'Original clues'.

These degree rotations are:

• Clue 1 - 242 degrees CCW.
• Clue 2 - 203 degrees CCW.
• Clue 3 - 196 degrees CCW.
• Clue 4 - 171 degrees CCW.

With each of these 'Original clues' mapped onto their respective location of the 'Final Four' clues and then rotated to these degrees, their Northern pointing (90 degrees CCW) axes all converge to a single point in the Lumbridge swamp very close to the Water altar.

Clue hunters travelled to the Water altar at the specified location and began to puzzle over what to do next. It was then found that by taking all four of the 'Original clues' and overlaying them on their X's at the specific rotation degrees mentioned earlier and looking WEST as the hint revealed, something strange happened. All 92 dots of all four original clues together lined up with a certain camera viewpoint which outlined several objects.

These objects are (with their respective examine texts which will be important for the next section):

• Mysterious ruins - "There is a powerful presence about these ruins..."
• Dead tree - "It's only useful for firewood now."
• Pillar - "An old crumbled pillar."
• Ruined pillar - "An old crumbled pillar."

On 7 June 2023 another hint was released in the blogpost. This hint confirmed the use of the objects mentioned above. It was quickly found that the examine texts of these objects could be related to the numbers on the 'Final Four' clues. These objects can be thought of as a 'perspective' as the hint says.

• For clue Final 1/4 you begin with the examine texts (removing all extra characters) as such:

ITSONLYUSEFULFORFIREWOODNOWANOLDCRUMBLEDPILLARITSONLYUSEFULFORFIREWOODNOWANOLDCRUMBLEDPILLARTHEREISAPOWERFULPRESENCEABOUTTHESERUINS

Using the numbers on clue Final 1/4 beginning with 16, 12, 39, 32, 1... and so on, and cumulatively taking the letter at those numbered indexes from the examine text string, words begin to appear, giving this string:

RAWSARDINEBLUEDYEPIESHELLTINORERAWRATMEATSHRIMPSPURPLEDYE

• For clue Final 2/4 you begin with the examine texts (removing all extra characters) AND reversed as such:

WONDOOWERIFROFLUFESUYLNOSTIRALLIPDELBMURCDLONAWONDOOWERIFROFLUFESUYLNOSTIRALLIPDELBMURCDLONASNIURESEHTTUOBAECNESERPLUFREWOPASIEREHT

Using the numbers on clue Final 2/4 in the same manner as before and cumulatively taking the letter at those numbered indexes from the examine text string, words begin to appear, giving this string:

MINDTIARAWATERRUNELEATHERCOWLBOWLAMULETOFDEFENCEPOISONEDFISHFOODSPADE

• For clue Final 3/4 you begin with the examine texts (removing all extra characters) in reading order but this time moving the opposite direction around the 'perspective' as such:

THEREISAPOWERFULPRESENCEABOUTTHESERUINSANOLDCRUMBLEDPILLARITSONLYUSEFULFORFIREWOODNOWANOLDCRUMBLEDPILLARITSONLYUSEFULFORFIREWOODNOW

Using the numbers on clue Final 3/4 in the same manner as before and cumulatively taking the letter at those numbered indexes from the examine text string, words begin to appear, giving this string:

FISHFOODIRONCHAINBODYPOTATOCHAOSRUNEEMERALDAMULETFEATHERSTEELSCIMITAR

• For clue Final 4/4 you begin with the examine texts (removing all extra characters) but now combining the strings of Final 2/4 and Final 3/4 by both reversing the examine texts and the order they are read in resulting in:

NIURESEHTTUOBAECNESERPLUFREWOPASIEREHTRALLIPDELBMURCDLONAWONDOOWERIFROFLUFESUYLNOSTIRALLIPDELBMURCDLONAWONDOOWERIFROFLUFESUYLNOSTI

Using the numbers on clue Final 4/4 in the same manner as before and cumulatively taking the letter at those numbered indexes from the examine text string, words begin to appear, giving this string:

STEELARROWHAMMERREDBERRYPIEREDBERRIESREDBEADFIRETIARARAWBEEF

Finally all of the items required and the dig location have been revealed to solve the step.

If done correctly, digging at the location in the Lumbridge swamp with all 28 items in your inventory, a new clue will be revealed:

You remember the days when times were tough.
The three coins in the corner just weren't enough.
You were so close to becoming rich.
Trying every way to get in hoping there would be a glitch.
But now the time has come for all this to change.
The treasure of your dreams will finally be within range.
cVXxMPGlBjySBArOEAmIktzVpaeHKwTJgHEOb
NDhhKJRvgVtqKtOZPEfoTiwDIQzwWmvyFJZNw
gWomkBwEUQhNKALEAzjeWIAkHMwYeOXfiPoej

Note: The player must complete the previous step, the Final Four, in order to progress.

This is the final step in the event. Many ideas were theorized quickly but the real leaps began when hints were released. On 16 June 2023 a hint was released which revealed that the word all needed to be removed from the riddle after which the first letters of the remaining words need to be used followed by the last letters (except for the final e from range).
This results in a string of 111 characters that corresponds to the 111 characters from the combined bottom three lines of the clue.

• First-last:

YrtdwtwtTtcitcjweYwsctbrTewtgihtwbagBntthcfttcTtoydwfbwruresnseheesnertthueoeoghgyyotngedeahtweesersoeeefrslyen

• Info-text:

cVXxMPGlBjySBArOEAmIktzVpaeHKwTJgHEObNDhhKJRvgVtqKtOZPEfoTiwDIQzwWmvyFJZNwgWomkBwEUQhNKALEAzjeWIAkHMwYeOXfiPoej

Now we can compare these letters on a 1:1 basis in order to find the so called centres. For one of the hint's cases, that centre refers to the letter in the half way between the two given letters in the alphabet (for A and C this is B).

Here is an example of how to do this by hand using an A1-Z26 method of assigning number values to the letters for the first four letters, keeping the capitalization from 'info-text':
cVXx from 'first-last'
Yrtd from 'info-text'

• ( c: 3 + Y:25 ) / 2 = 14: n
• ( V:22 + r:18 ) / 2 = 20: T
• ( X:24 + t:20 ) / 2 = 22: V
• ( x:24 + d: 4 ) / 2 = 14: n

Continuing this process will yield:

• Centre string:

nTVnRROpKonNKBnSEMrNgtnTrcnNIpNOoECKbNLnhGHSueUtpRlSPINlrSguINKqnNproLOWKvfSjniEoOWPnNICHEAqonNGJhMPsOeJOlnNtel

By looking at the 'centre' string we can already see a few suspicious words or pseudo-words such as SPIN.

Clue hunters realised that only the uppercase letters are correct and found that by offsetting the lowercase letters by 13 (half of the alphabet), the correct letters could be found. (This is a cipher called ROT13.)

Here's an example of how to apply ROT13 by hand using that A1-Z26 method again:

• For letters 1-13 (A to M), for example to convert h to u, 13 is added to it: h + 13 = 8 + 13 = 21 -> u.
• For letters 14-26 (N to Z), for example to convert s to f, 13 is subtracted instead: s - 13 = 19 - 13 = 6 -> f.

By continuing this process across the entire string, the solution finally emerges:

• Solution string:

ATVARROCKBANKBASEMENTGATEPANICNOBECKONLAUGHSHRUGCRYSPINYESTHINKDANCEBLOWKISSWAVEBOWPANICHEADBANGJUMPFORJOYANGRY

At Varrock bank basement gate:
1. Panic
2. No
3. Beckon
4. Laugh
5. Shrug
6. Cry
7. Spin
8. Yes
9. Think
10. Dance
11. Blow Kiss
12. Wave
13. Bow
14. Panic
15. Head Bang
16. Jump For Joy
17. Angry

By going to the gate of the vault in the basement of the Varrock west bank and performing these emotes in the correct order, the Mysterious old man will appear and let you into the vault to loot the chests and claim your reward. The Final clue section MUST be completed in-game by the player in order for this to work correctly. All pieces of the Robes of Ruin set can be claimed from the chests in the vault. Congratulations! Crack the clue 3 is complete!

To exit the vault, either teleport out or do all emotes in the correct order again. Vault re-entry does not require the re-completion of the Final clue section.

Crack the Clue III was fully solved on 21 June 2023. The first player, and the main players that contributed to the completion of the event, were credited in a noticeboard in Falador, inside the Mysterious Old Man's house:

Player who first solved the event:

Spider1357

Players who contributed to earlier steps:

wendyes

dddvlot

Spider1357

Detael

K1SSIN

Juoppokeke

Xaigg

1FrostySOB

GODSLIFE

Winterpropht

rururupert

Mistereman22

Ily Btw

Belt

Agent Yolo

Kexsa

Fleur de Lis

lowli fe

MusaUkko

— Noticeboard (Crack the Clue III)

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