Treasure Trails/Guide/Celtic knots

The Celtic knot is a puzzle from an elite treasure trail that must be solved in order to proceed further. It was released on 4 August 2010 as part of the rework and expansion of the treasure trails reward system.

To solve a real-life celtic knot puzzle, you must make the knot have rotational symmetry. A celtic knot puzzle has two solutions, as rotational symmetry can go two directions. An online interactive celtic knot puzzle can be found here.

Description
A celtic knot puzzle is based on decorative knots or chord designs, both physically and visually depicted in various art media, which usually are shown as being endless, interlaced, or continuously looping.

The RuneScape celtic knot puzzle consists of three loops, each one a different colour and with a different sequence of 16 runestones. It will appear on the screen when the player attempts to open a puzzle scroll box or puzzle casket. The message at the top of the puzzle reads, "Paths interlace and intersect. May runes match where they meet," which describes the goal of the puzzle as well as its function. The arrows are used to move the runestones on a loop one space in the desired direction, and there is a button which can be hovered over to "flip" the puzzle, revealing the runestones hidden under the intersections. Once all runes are matched (indicated with a green circle surrounding the junctions of the loops), the knot can be "unlocked" to open the scroll box.

Strategies
There are two procedures that can be undertaken here, either manually or automatically using an online tool.

The general algorithm to solve these puzzles is as follows:
 * 1) First choose one ring. This will be your primary ring.
 * 2) Choose another ring to be your secondary ring.
 * 3) Choose a spot where these two rings intersect to focus on. Begin by matching all possibilities of the secondary ring to the rune of the primary ring at the intersection you are focusing on.
 * If, when this intersection turns green, all other intersections of these two rings are not green, turn the first ring one spot and try again. Keep doing this until all of the intersections between the first two rings are green
 * 1) Lastly, turn the third ring to match the first two.
 * 2) If all possibilities of one intersection on this ring are tried, and the puzzle is not solved, move the first ring one space and keep trying.
 * 3) When all intersections are green, click "Unlock" to solve the puzzle.

A more advanced, but less time and click-intensive method is as follows:
 * 1) Choose your primary and secondary rings.
 * 2) Choose two intersection slots, as close together as possible, where your primary and secondary rings intersect.
 * 3) Make note of the runes in the intersection slots on the primary ring, as well as the number of spaces between the intersections on your secondary ring (don't forget to invert paths). The spaces are counted on the secondary ring because the distance between intersections may differ between the two rings, and the secondary ring is the one that will be rotated. An example of this can be seen in the 10-intersection knot. If red is primary and grey is secondary, the red ring has three spaces between the upper intersections, while grey has only one.
 * 4) Look for this same pattern of runes in the secondary ring. The runes in between the intersection slots are not important. For example, if the primary ring intersections have a Law Rune and a Lava Rune, and there are two spaces between these intersections on the secondary ring, look on the secondary ring for a Law Rune, two spaces, and a Lava Rune.
 * 5) If there is no pattern match on the secondary ring, rotate the primary ring once.
 * 6) Repeat steps 3-5 until all of the intersections between the primary and secondary ring are a match.
 * 7) Rotate the third ring until all of the intersections match.
 * 8) When all intersections are green, click "Unlock" to solve the puzzle.

Below are simple ways to solve the puzzles. These may not be all the types of puzzles.

6-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise up to 16 times. You are looking to match the two intersections where the red and blue knots meet. A green circle indicates matching intersections.
 * 2) If the two intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the red knot, move the blue knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until the two intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the silver knot until the remaining four intersections match.

8-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise 16 times. You are looking to match the four intersections where the red and silver knots meet. A green circle indicates a matching intersections.
 * 2) If all four intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the red knot, move the silver knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until the red and silver intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the blue knot until the remaining four intersections match.

10-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise up to 16 times. You are looking to match the four intersections where the red and silver knots meet. A green circle indicates a matching intersection.
 * 2) If the four intersections do not match after a full rotation of the knot, move the silver knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Again move the red knot up to 16 times until the four intersections match.
 * 4) Continue this process until you match the four intersections between the red and silver knots.
 * 5) Next move the blue knot until the remaining eight intersections match.

12-spot intersection

 * 1) Move the red knot clockwise up to 16 times. You are looking to match the four intersections where the red and blue knots meet. A green circle indicates a matching intersection.
 * 2) If the four intersections are not matching after a full rotation of the knot, move the blue knot clockwise once.
 * 3) Repeat until the four intersections match.
 * 4) Simply move the silver knot until the remaining eight intersections match.

Tips

 * Players may rotate the knots either clockwise or counter-clockwise. The direction does not matter as long as the direction is consistent.
 * If the last knot will not match, the first two knots may not be matching correctly. Try another intersection combination.
 * If a particular type of Rune is on one knot but not another (for instance, the blue knot could have 2 Soul Runes while the red knot has none), you can immediately deduce from this that the rune in question does not belong at the intersections between the knots, and eliminate it as one of the possibilities.
 * While doing Celtic knots, the clockwise rotation may not be needed by experienced players. Always remember to use the Invert paths so you can tell what runes are on the knot that is being covered in and saves time.