Weekly competition 2008-21

3x3:

37.87, 40.20, (40.48), (37.85), 39.47 = 39.18

That was a crappy average, but my first comp. : P. I usually avg about a 34.xx, but I haven't cubed much for the past week due to finals. I didn't know it would affect my times that much, jees. Ouch.
 
great to see more people competing in these! they're loads of fun

thanks for the advice AvG, but usually I don't have time to analyze reverse scrambles. I would've had time today because I found the short 2x2x3 quite quickly. I'm familiar with the concept, although I haven't tried it. Isn't it basically just 're-rolling the dice' and hoping you get a better scramble?

are there any other fmc techniques I should be aware of? aside from blocks, insertions, and reverse scrambles, I really don't know what else exists (I'm reading up on scramble premoves now, so chalk that up to the list as well :))
 
haven't practised much lately so not much improvement.
3x3x3:
29.04
31.82
30.71
29.64
20.45
avg of 5=28.33
3 of 5= 29.80
atleast I got sub 30 :p

2x2x2 bld (using 2 layers of a 4x4x4 lol 2x2x2's coming in the mail in like 3 days.)

23.03
44.96
30.96
avg. 32.98
lol around 15-20 sec memo. pretty good since I taught myself last night :p
 
Last edited:
Rubik's Cube Fan
3x3: 34.45, 36.77, 34.07, 24.92, 27.52 = 32.01
Comment: VERY bad average - didn't warm up, and the 4th solve was a PLL skip
 
2: 3.33 4.16 4.30 2.96 5.27 = 3.93 great

3: 13.94 17.75 13.00 17.15 12.08 = 14.70 weird avg

4: 1:01.36 P 1:08.83 O 53.43 1:07.90 O 1:16.52 O = 1:06.36 nice, 53 was pll skip

5: 1:50.31 2:31.13 2:14.40 2:14.19 2:14.97 = 2:14.52 another weird avg

2BLD: 21.18 28.59 26.09= 21.18

3BLD:

3OH: 25.65 31.63 30.75 33.28 30.69 = 31.02 good

3Match:

FMC:

234Relay: 1:32.19 not good
2: 0:04
3: 0:14
4: 1:14 OP

2345Relay: 3:32.28 awesome
2: 0:03
5: 2:15
4: 0:57
3: 0:17
 
Last edited:
*LukeMayn* said:
2x2x2 bld (using 2 layers of a 4x4x4 lol 2x2x2's coming in the mail in like 3 days.)

23.03
44.96
30.96
avg. 32.98
lol around 15-20 sec memo. pretty good since I taught myself last night :p
Click to expand...

You don't calculate averages for BLD - you take the best time, so your time would be 23.03. You just taught yourself the night before and you're getting times like this? What's your method? Are you doing speed BLD?? I'm astonished. Derrick will be completely jealous.
 
What a nice way to wake-up: 22 for FMC! I might never beat this again because this solve only really had 1 weak spot (the 4th pair) and even that didn't take many moves if you consider how it affected the last layer

If you ever want to learn how/why you should do premoves and insertions, just analyze this scramble and my solution:
Scramble: D F2 D L2 D L2 B2 U2 F' R2 F U' R D2 B U' F' L'
(Do premove B to see what is going on. If you don't do the premove you still have a 2x2x3 block after 4 moves, only the colors are wrong. That's why you do the premove)
2x2x3 (4): R2 B' R2 B
Triple X-Cross (9): F2 D' L2 D F
F2L + Edges last layer (18): L2 D' . L D L2 F L F' L'
Undo premove (19) B
Insert corner 3-cycle at the . cancelling 5 moves: (U') (L D L') (U) (L D' L'). I added the () so you can clearly see the commutator in there P Q P' Q'
Total solution: R2 B' R2 B F2 D' L2 D F L2 D' U' L D L' U L' F L F' L' B = 22

I have just analysed this solve with cube explorer (4.30)
The original "WCA"-scramble had 18 moves and couldn't be optimised any further, so 18 optimal.
After the first 4 moves (2x2x3) I needed 18 more while optimal was 17
After the first 9 moves (triple x-cross), the last 13 were optimal (I expected as much because of the 5 cancelling moves with the insertion)
I decided to backtrack and the last 17 moves turned out to be optimal!
That means my first 5 moves only made the optimal solution 1 move shorter and my final 17 moves couldn't be shortened :)

For the inverse I also found a sub-30 solution
Inverse scramble: L F U B' D2 R' U F' R2 F U2 B2 L2 D' L2 D' F2 D'
Do premove D to see what is happening (It transforms a double opposite X-Cross without a good continuation into a double adjacent X-Cross with a good continuation)
Double X-Cross (8): F' B2 R . U R B R2 D'
Triple X-Cross + build 4th pair (15): L B L B2 U B U'
4th pair + edges last layer (21): L' D' B D B' L
Undo premove (22): D
Insert corner 3-cyle at the . cancelling 1 move: (F' D2 F) (U2) (F' D2 F) (U2). I added the () so you can clearly see the commutator in there P Q P' Q'
Total inverse solution: F' B2 R F' D2 F U2 F' D2 F U' R B R2 D' L B L B2 U B U' L' D' B D B' L D = 29
Invert the inverse solution to solve the real scramble: D' L' B D' B' D L U B' U' B2 L' B' L' D R2 B' R' U F' D2 F U2 F' D2 F R' B2 F = 29
 
Last edited:
2x2x2: (28.45) , (13.25) , 24.11 , 13.48 , 20.19 =19,26
3x3x3: (33.73) , 28.05 , 32.27 , 28.89 , (26.75) =29.73
4x4x4: (2:57.74) , 2:25.70 , (2:12.45) , 2:21.95 , 2:26.84 =2:24.83
5x5x5: (5:49.74) , 5:32.95 , 5:26.17 , (4:25.92) , 5:17.94 =5:25.69
2-3-4-Relay: 3:38.39
(Wasted approx. 1 full Minute in search for a single cubie on the 4x4. It turned out to be in the exact spot where I would have put it )
Memo to myself: If you can't find the cubie, it is allready in place and right in front of your nose (where it has switched on the special stealth mode;)
2-3-4-5-Relay: 7:48.39
 
Last edited:
Megaminx
1:47.89, (1:59.81), 1:52.94, (1:45.55) 1:54.48 => 1:51.77 average
new PB average!! I shouldve done this good at armonk but i was crap there
 
3x3x3
(49.73) 45.55 44.45 (40.92) 46.03 = 45.34
New PB single and average, not bad!
 
Jason Baum

3x3x3: 11.84 11.53 12.38 (10.69) (12.40) = 11.92
Meh... nothing great.
4x4x4: 1:02.66 (1:11.45) 59.31 1:01.67 (59.20) = 1:01.21
I changed my approach to edge pairing and now my reduction time is way better. If only I could stop getting parities...
5x5x5: 2:37.97 (3:11.81) 2:39.92 (2:35.86) 2:39.78 = 2:39.22
Pretty consistent. The second solve was full of fail.
3x3x3 OH: (24.94) 24.02 22.84 22.83 (21.00) = 23.23
Got progressively better. I never practice this anymore.
3x3x3 BLD: DNF DNF 2:01.64 = 2:01.64
I'm finally starting to get better at this.
Square-1: 33.39 (40.98) 37.62 35.69 (29.19) = 35.57
Nice average, I'm starting to learn more algs. Why aren't there slashes in the notation anymore?
 
linkmaster03 said:
*LukeMayn* said:
2x2x2 bld (using 2 layers of a 4x4x4 lol 2x2x2's coming in the mail in like 3 days.)

23.03
44.96
30.96
avg. 32.98
lol around 15-20 sec memo. pretty good since I taught myself last night :p
Click to expand...

What method do you use? :o
Click to expand...

its pretty basic, memo the moves for first layer, while also memoing the number, 1, 2, 3, 4 on the yellow side (normally LL)I memo the number onto the yellow side of that cubie and kepp track of it doing the solve. I use intuitive First layer, the a 3x3x3 alg to make the top yellow, then permute, I figured out quite a lot of trick though to help this. I also might switch to CLL for 2x2x2. also it was a bit of a fluke considering I avg. over 1 min :p
 
These are all done with no warm ups:

3x3x3: 19.68 19.38 18.21 21.05 20.44 => 19.83
Wow

3x3x3_OH: 36.30 35.40 34.08 32.91 38.78 => 35.26
Wow! Where did this come from??

3x3x3_feet: 2:02.33 1:40.47 1:55.50 2:03.78 2:07.93 => 2:00.54
The last two were really bad F2L's. The second one was a U-perm at sub70 >.<

4x4x4: 2:32.28 2:23.59 1:55.66 1:57.80 2:14.94 => 2:12.11
At least two sub2's...

5x5x5: 3:23.75 3:37.80 3:15.21 3:14.78 3:09.44 => 3:17.91
Uh.
 
Mike Hughey:
2x2x2: 10.36, 10.00, 10.72, 7.68, 10.25 = 10.20
Comment: Nice scrambles.
3x3x3: 24.81, 27.94, 32.08, 33.75, 24.67 = 28.28
Comment: Nice - I hope I can do this well in Cincinnati!
4x4x4: 2:01.89 (P), 1:58.83, 1:49.64 (P), 2:05.94 (O), 1:53.39 = 1:58.04
5x5x5: 4:25.88, 3:14.23, 3:08.06, 3:10.59, 3:38.39 = 3:21.07
Comment: Horrible! All 5 solves felt unlucky for me. On the first one I messed up the centers by messing up the last edge-match algorithm. :(
2x2x2 BLD: 56.11, 51.78, DNF (1:26.32) = 51.78
3x3x3 BLD: DNF (3:04.29), DNF (4:04.18), 2:14.19 = 2:14.19
Comment: This is called living dangerously. It’s funny that I did this badly, but wound up with my best result ever in these competitions. I’m still way to inconsistent with M2 – too easy for me to miss all 3 in a competition.
4x4x4 BLD: 11:27.69 (6:35), DNF (10:42.88, 5:23), 11:26.04 (5:36) = 11:26.04
Comment: Average.
5x5x5 BLD: 26:20.12 (11:10), 21:26.13 (11:19), 20:38.38 (10:56) = 20:38.38
Comment: Okay, so this was really wonderful! The first one I had a bad memory problem where I probably paused for 5 minutes, so other than that, all 3 were really fast, and I got them all right! The second one was the luckiest 5x5x5 BLD scramble ever – if you haven’t tried it, you should; you’ll never get a luckier scramble. 18 centers solved to begin with. I wonder what the odds of that are? I can’t believe I got my best time on a normal scramble instead, though.
3x3x3 multiBLD: 8/10 = 6 points, 1:17:49.78 (49:45 mem)
Comment: On the 4th cube I messed up 3 edges by treating my letter pair "LH " (left hand) as "OH" (one-handed). Obviously I need to fix one of those letter pairs. On the 7th cube there were 3 edges flipped in place, but I only saw 2, so I had 2 edges flipped wrong at the end. What makes me really happy about this was my time, though – I’m finally under 8 minutes per cube! The thing that did it was Alex and masterofthebass giving me their secrets for doing parity – it’s so much easier when you don’t have to struggle with parity.
3x3x3 OH: 1:04.77, 56.05, 1:14.23, 54.00, 41.28 = 58.27
Comment: The 41.28 was apparently my non-lucky PB.
3x3x3 WF: 2:43.13, 4:51.05 (+2), 2:36.96, 3:04.83, 3:40.18 = 3:09.38
Comment: The second one would have been my fastest ever, but I messed up a T perm (of all things!) and essentially had to solve it twice. :( The fifth one I had “feet amnesia” and forgot how to do a G perm. Sorry, Dene, I stunk this week - but you were really good - nice job!
3x3x3 Match the scramble: 2:21.09, 2:31.06, 3:08.23, 2:38.81, 2:35.97 = 2:35.28
Comment: Nice and consistent, anyway.
2-4 Relay: 22:31.14 (12:37 mem)
Comment: I just can’t do this as fast as Alex can. This was pretty fast for me.
2-5 Relay: 6:03.75 (P)
Comment: I “cheated” this week – not enough time to do it BLD. I probably won’t have time next week either (due to Cincinnati Open).
Magic: 2.69, 2.94, 3.68, 2.90, 3.06 = 2.97
Master Magic: 4.84, 4.91, 5.18, 4.61, 5.19 = 4.98
Comment: I keep improving by bits on the Master Magic, but I just can’t seem to improve at all at Magic.
Clock: Still don’t have one. (Joey?)
MegaMinx: 3:13.69, 3:07.15, 3:35.75, 3:35.03, 3:32.68 = 3:27.13
Pyraminx: 20.56, 28.68, 15.36, 23.59, 19.88 = 21.34
Square-1: 2:05.78 (P), 1:29.69, 1:42.71, 1:13.16, 51.16 = 1:28.52
3x3x3 Fewest Moves: 33 moves
L B D L2 F’ R2 F L2 F’ R2 B D’ F’ U2 F U R’ F’ R2 F2 R D’ F L D F D’ F’ L’ F D F2 U
Premove U to see what’s going on.
2x2x2: L B D F’ . B D’
2x2x3: F’ U2 F U
F2L: R’ F’ R2 F2 R D’ F D
OLL: D’ L D F D’ F’ L’ F D
PLL: F2
undo premove: U
at . insert: F L2 F’ R2 F L2 F’ R2
F’ F cancel at ., D D’ cancel before OLL.
I was very proud of this until Arnaud posted his 22 move solution. It seems like Arnaud almost always beats me by about 10 moves. Arnaud, you’re amazing.
 
Don't feel less proud of your solution just because of my ridiculous 22 Mike. I really consider that a lucky solve because of the start and the perfect cancellations.

Your blindfolded results seem at least as amazing to me. I hope you can come to the US Open and do that experiment with me. (I will bring an extra clock with me :))

For your FMC solution I found a small change at the end where you could have saved 4 moves. I really think that you would have found that solution if you hadn't known the OLL. (I guess my lack of algs can be an advantage sometimes)

Keep this part:
Premove U to see what’s going on.
2x2x2: L B D F’ . B D’
2x2x3: F’ U2 F U
F2L: R’ F’ R2 F2 R

Change this part:
D’ F D
OLL: D’ L D F D’ F’ L’ F D

To this:
R F R' (orient edges)
F' D' F2 D (finish F2L + edges last layer)

I was only trying to do the edges of the last layer, but got full OLL. Orienting the corners really isn't important though, you only need 1 correctly oriented and permuted corner to finish with a corner 3-cycle insertion.
What I did find amazing was that after this, the last layer was exactly the same, so your finish and insertion still works :)

PLL: F2
undo premove: U
at . insert: F L2 F’ R2 F L2 F’ R2
F’ F cancel at ., D D’ cancel before OLL.

Good luck getting sub 30 next time, but don't feel bad if you don't. Getting sub-40 is "easy", sub-35 is already hard work, sub-32 is world-class and anything below 30 requires luck and/or the skill-level of people like Mirek/Per/Guus.
 
AvGalen said:
I hope you can come to the US Open and do that experiment with me. (I will bring an extra clock with me :))
Click to expand...
I hope so too.

AvGalen said:
For your FMC solution I found a small change at the end where you could have saved 4 moves. I really think that you would have found that solution if you hadn't known the OLL. (I guess my lack of algs can be an advantage sometimes)
Click to expand...

Thank you for that - what a very nice improvement. One of my problems is running out of time, though - I was pretty pressed for time finding the insertion I found - I found the insertion around 56 minutes. (Without it it was something like 35 moves - I had that written down just in case.) If I had had more time, I might have looked for something like that (although I'm still not sure I would have found it.


AvGalen said:
Good luck getting sub 30 next time, but don't feel bad if you don't. Getting sub-40 is "easy", sub-35 is already hard work, sub-32 is world-class and anything below 30 requires luck and/or the skill-level of people like Mirek/Per/Guus.
Click to expand...
I think you forgot Arnaud in that list. :) You have gotten quite a few sub-30 solves, you know. You really do belong in that list!
 
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