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Older cubers discussions

openseas

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2015
Messages
425
WCA
2015PARK24
Just finished one of local comp.

3x3x3 - 1st and 2nd round 24~25s average. Nothing special.

MBLD - attempted 10, got 6 success. 2 DNFs from 1 twist, 1 flip, 1 DNF: did DR' for unsetup but supposed to be R'D. the last DNF was missing D during corner comm shifting all corners by D move.

3BLD
1st round: after 2 DNF, safety solve go 1:53 - supposed to be a 3 round 3BLD comp, so didn't want to exit after the first round. But turned out to be a 2 round comp (3 no shows, didn't have enough people to make 3 round comp).
2nd round: Since it will be the final round, decided to go for it, 1:02 DNF, 1:01 DNF, 1:05 success. 1st one was off by one edge cycle (looks like I used an inverse comm), and 2nd was 1 corner twist (memo'd as CCW but it was CW). Still missed official sub-1 but I'm ok with non-triple DNF results.

Jeff was trying double floating - he is in Gianfranco mode (trying something new trick rather going for the speed). Thanks to his approach, my final result was only 14s slower than his winning solve, slightly less embarrassing 2nd place :)
 

efattah

Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
711
I'm curious as to how fast people got with the original Rubik's Revenge (4x4) puzzle in the 80's. The puzzle was incredibly difficult to turn. My best was 3:54 in 1987. I solved centers->corners->edges, and I could not resolve parity so I had to restart/rescramble if I got parity. At the time my 3x3 PB was 19.8 so the 4x4 took me drastically longer to solve and I could not solve megaminx at all, til a year or two later.
 

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
Close but no cigar on my hunt for a sub 15 single, got a 15.48 with a PLL skip and a 16.2 full step yesterday. It was also time for a check-up on my Ao50 and I managed to get it well below 24 at last.

My stickerless TengYun M arrived yesterday after being on backorder for a couple weeks. I like very fast, light feeling 3x3s with fairly weak magnets so when some of the reviews claimed "uncontrollably fast, needs med/heavy lube to slow it down" I figured I should give it a try. Heads-up to @JohnnyReggae since we seem to have similar tastes.

It was not entirely coated in lube as some reviews complained; out of the box it had a slightly scratchy/sandy feeling with a little bit of spring noise. Turning is quite smooth after a little break-in and a drop of light silicone lube on each washer under the spring was all that was needed to quiet the core. The shades have good contrast and follow the current trend of darker red/blue and overall less of a "washed-out" look than the GTS2 shades. Magnets feel on the weaker side which I like, they seem to do their job without being all that noticeable otherwise. The only prep I've done is some Lubicle Speedy on the washers to get rid of the spring noise and DNM. I left as much of the factory lube in it as I could when I disassembled and will resist the urge to add any silicone lube to the pieces for now as I always end up regretting the decision.

The GTS2-M has been my main since it came out because it remains fast without gumming up and having to clean it out every 4 days like some others described as "uncontrollably fast" that I've tried. It's still early but the TengYun definitely rivals the GTS2-M for my tastes and I believe there is still a sweeter spot to be found with the tensions. We'll see how it holds up over time and when solving in anger; I've said "main challenger" multiple times in the past only to return to the trusty GTS2-M every time.

[EDIT: and just got a full step 15.98 on the TengYun, six move P OLL and R-Perm. I should probably be aiming for a sub 14 single]
 
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SpartanSailor

Member
Joined
May 21, 2016
Messages
730
WCA
2016DUEH02
Today was quite the day. My son and i got up at 0400h and drove 4.5 hours to a competition at North Carolina State. My only main goal was to get a sub-3 with 3BLD and qualify for US Nationals. Here’s a brief recap of the day:

3x3: Round 1– PB Average, but a sliver of a second, but still... and made the second round.
Round 2 — counting 19 and another PB average by a second over the round 1 average. All in all, my times were consistent and no disaster solves. I felt good and relaxed today. That definitely helps. Ended the day with three sub-20 singles (one in first round 2 in second round) and new PB average of 21.44.

5x5: I’ve never been able to get an average, so with generous time limits, I was able to do that today. I took a DNF even though I could have justified a timer malfunction on my 4th solve. But, I’m pleased to get a 2:41 average and now I have a mark for future reference.

3BLD: DNF (2:43)—during execution i did two corners in the wrong order.
2:31.42—nailed it. When I stopped the timer, I didn’t ever pull my blindfold off immediately. I sat there just wanting to see a solved cube... and I DID! I noticed I was around 1:40 when I started execution so, approximately, 1:40/0:50 splits. Not terrible. Lots of room for improvement on memo and the execution on this was steady and only one slight pause.
DNF—I was still reeling from the previous and just got flustered during execution and took the DNF. Nevertheless I’m thrilled.

4x4: I haven’t been practicing much of 4x4, but have had some decent casual sessions... and today that paid off because I was relaxed and got a new PB average of 1:09.xx. Another great result beating my previous official average of 1:17.

OH: This was nothing to brag about, but they had another generous time limit and I managed to get a PB single and a PB average (but this is my first average with OH... so... easy win)

Basically, I PB averaged everything today and got my 3BLD qualiying time. I’m really pleased with the day.
 

JohnnyReggae

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
557
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
WCA
2015BOSW01
My stickerless TengYun M arrived yesterday after being on backorder for a couple weeks. I like very fast, light feeling 3x3s with fairly weak magnets so when some of the reviews claimed "uncontrollably fast, needs med/heavy lube to slow it down" I figured I should give it a try. Heads-up to @JohnnyReggae since we seem to have similar tastes.
I've been considering getting it but have been holding off as I'm not sure I would move over to it on a more permanent basis. I'm very keen to try it though.
 

openseas

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2015
Messages
425
WCA
2015PARK24
@SpartanSailor / Great job! Congrats!

@pglewis / sounds interesting. I may want to try. I’m planning to get GTS3 WR - Jeff has couple, feels good. Without ridges, I can do Boron treatment and make it smoother even for stickerless.

I also finished a comp in OK. Dan (Smith) helped me the whole day for data entry and annoucements. Fun to hang out with fellow oldies.

I’ve got 1:01 with corner recall pause and hesitation for a corner twist. Even at home, sub 1 is like 1 out of 20 solves. So, I need more practice and rounds but feel getting close. My edge comms are still wrong way to be a decent/ready mode.

Next comm, Max (Hilliard) and Jeff will be competing together. It will be fun to watch them do BLD relay.
 
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pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
Heh... moments later a 14.10 with a PLL skip, mission finally accomplished.

F' D' R' D L2 U2 R B L2 B' U2 L2 B' L2 D2 F' D2 L2 B2 L F2

I finally figured out the exact goofiness I did with the 2nd pair that granted me the lucky skip

z2 y // Inspection
F L R' D2 // Cross
U R U' R' // First pair
y R' U' R y L' U' L // Second Pair
B' R B R' // Third Pair
y L' U' L U2 L' U L // Last Pair
U (r' U2 R U R' U r) // Square OLL
U2 // AUF
 
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pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
Part of me is stoked of course and another part of me is a little annoyed that the slight "deer in headlights delay" on the final AUF kept it over :14. No biggie, I should probably be setting my sights on something in the 12.x range for a smooth + lucky single at this point. This one was just a stubborn matter of principle.

Final AUF prediction didn't help me on the PB since I didn't predict the skip but I'm still really glad I decided to incorporate it. It barely took any effort beyond paying attention, I already had fair intuition given thousands of solves the past couple years. Two days and I'd seen enough PLLs repeatedly to have it mostly down. J-Perms still throw me a little, E-Perms because by the time I realize it's an E-Perm I just go into it without paying attention, and N-Perms because... N-Perms. But it has definitely been a factor in a handful of sub 20 solves that wouldn't have been and only a few +2s, nothing chronic and the doctor's prescription for it is "don't do that". The primary factor is remembering to look.

Best low hanging fruit by far at this point is going back to work on predicting first pair and spamming Cross+1 drills. Other than mistakes, slow cross is definitely becoming the biggest culprit on my slower solves, though a handful of OLLs are still a drag. Getting 2-sided PLL recog solid from every angle is another one that would probably pay off well (he says, for the 800th time).
 

Tom Joad

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
137
Part of me is stoked of course and another part of me is a little annoyed that the slight "deer in headlights delay" on the final AUF kept it over :14. No biggie, I should probably be setting my sights on something in the 12.x range for a smooth + lucky single at this point. This one was just a stubborn matter of principle.

Final AUF prediction didn't help me on the PB since I didn't predict the skip but I'm still really glad I decided to incorporate it. It barely took any effort beyond paying attention, I already had fair intuition given thousands of solves the past couple years. Two days and I'd seen enough PLLs repeatedly to have it mostly down. J-Perms still throw me a little, E-Perms because by the time I realize it's an E-Perm I just go into it without paying attention, and N-Perms because... N-Perms. But it has definitely been a factor in a handful of sub 20 solves that wouldn't have been and only a few +2s, nothing chronic and the doctor's prescription for it is "don't do that". The primary factor is remembering to look.

Best low hanging fruit by far at this point is going back to work on predicting first pair and spamming Cross+1 drills. Other than mistakes, slow cross is definitely becoming the biggest culprit on my slower solves, though a handful of OLLs are still a drag. Getting 2-sided PLL recog solid from every angle is another one that would probably pay off well (he says, for the 800th time).

Hi again.

Can you give me any tips on working on first pair/ spamming cross +1 drills?
I also feel like this is where I can most improve upon my times but have never had the discipline to make the mental effort required.
If a cross is seven or eight moves, it would take me minutes to predict first pair. Do you use unlimited inspection?

Do you just predict location first pair ends up or also orientation so that you know the exact case?
I really need to start investing some time in this, I think I could knock two seconds off my times if I get it right.

I average 16-17 (when I’m looking ahead, which is far from always), PB 12.5
 

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
Hi again.

Can you give me any tips on working on first pair/ spamming cross +1 drills?
I also feel like this is where I can most improve upon my times but have never had the discipline to make the mental effort required.
If a cross is seven or eight moves, it would take me minutes to predict first pair. Do you use unlimited inspection?

Do you just predict location first pair ends up or also orientation so that you know the exact case?
I really need to start investing some time in this, I think I could knock two seconds off my times if I get it right.

I average 16-17 (when I’m looking ahead, which is far from always), PB 12.5

Yesterday I did some timed solves until I felt like I was properly warmed up then did a session of 50 cross+1 solves with the normal inspection limit to get a current baseline. On good ones I'm 4-6 seconds, mean is ~7, and I bleed out as slow as 9-11 seconds with mistakes or ones I take forever to find the first pair. My best Ao12 was about a second faster than my previous baseline last summer and about a half second faster on Ao25. This will give me an indicator on progress as I start drilling and also shows that my best potential has improved by about a second and longer averages about a half second since last Aug just from organic improvement on cross+1 alone.

For first pair prediction drills I won't be timing and I'll use unlimited inspection, figure out the moves for the cross, then tracking a corner that will end up in the U layer, then track the pairing edge. I spent a couple days on this a few weeks back and tracking a corner was tricky and slow at first but I was slowly getting the hang of it after a little work. I'll also use this handy scrambler and start with 3 or 4 move crosses and ramp up the difficulty as needed: https://christianvaughngames.com/C2F2L

Along with the video @h2f shared, JPerm also has a "how to be sub 15" video that focuses on Cross+1. I think in both those vids he uses the method above for tracking but just using normal scrambles instead of easier cross scrambles.

The "next level" guys might have some things to chime-in with, among those active here @Selkie, @CLL Smooth, @Logiqx, and @JohnnyReggae come to mind, all of which probably have a lot more practice with it than I.
 

Tom Joad

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
137
Yesterday I did some timed solves until I felt like I was properly warmed up then did a session of 50 cross+1 solves with the normal inspection limit to get a current baseline. On good ones I'm 4-6 seconds, mean is ~7, and I bleed out as slow as 9-11 seconds with mistakes or ones I take forever to find the first pair. My best Ao12 was about a second faster than my previous baseline last summer and about a half second faster on Ao25. This will give me an indicator on progress as I start drilling and also shows that my best potential has improved by about a second and longer averages about a half second since last Aug just from organic improvement on cross+1 alone.

For first pair prediction drills I won't be timing and I'll use unlimited inspection, figure out the moves for the cross, then tracking a corner that will end up in the U layer, then track the pairing edge. I spent a couple days on this a few weeks back and tracking a corner was tricky and slow at first but I was slowly getting the hang of it after a little work. I'll also use this handy scrambler and start with 3 or 4 move crosses and ramp up the difficulty as needed: https://christianvaughngames.com/C2F2L

Along with the video @h2f shared, JPerm also has a "how to be sub 15" video that focuses on Cross+1. I think in both those vids he uses the method above for tracking but just using normal scrambles instead of easier cross scrambles.

The "next level" guys might have some things to chime-in with, among those active here @Selkie, @CLL Smooth, @Logiqx, and @JohnnyReggae come to mind, all of which probably have a lot more practice with it than I.

Thanks, I think I will do unlimited inspection and try to solve the cross and first pair blind
 

Tom Joad

Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2016
Messages
137
I gotta figure if you and I could do that consistently it would drop 2+ seconds off our averages.

Definitely.

I think mastering this is the only way I can move to regular sub 15 solves, with a chance of a lucky sub 10 one day.

However, it makes my brain hurt... haha
 

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
My random thoughts after some drills today:

Staring with 3-move crosses is encouraging, it may take me a few minutes here at the outset but I can reliably predict the first pair and it really drives home how beneficial that is.

Finding a good corner and tracking it is the hard part for me; adding one more edge beyond the cross, once I know which, is a lot easier.

I've learned I can rule out some corners quickly, like seeing that one is going to be pinned next to solved bottom edge and quickly take it out of consideration. From the other end, sometimes it's obvious that a corner won't move much or at all with a little looking.

Sometimes it's useful for me to think in reverse, starting from the last move or two of the cross

In some situations I've found it may change the order of how I solve the cross or even introduce an extra U face turn or something to preserve a piece or set up a better case.
 

SpartanSailor

Member
Joined
May 21, 2016
Messages
730
WCA
2016DUEH02
Got the new GTS 3 M WR yesterday and have done several solves. Just completed an average of 50. For the ao50 I got 21.32s which is only 0.02 seconds off my best Ao50. BUT, I closed out with a PB on the last Ao5 of 18.41 beating my previous PB of 18.42. HA! Still feels good to get a PB average. I still need to work on my overall consistency. ..

Generated By csTimer on 2019-3-19
avg of 5: 18.41

Time List:
1. (17.31) B2 U2 R2 B D2 U2 B2 L2 U2 B' R2 D' R2 B U2 L' U2 R' D L' U
2. (20.11) D2 B' R U' L F2 D2 B R' U2 F2 L2 U2 L2 U D2 L2 F2 D2
3. 17.44 L2 F2 U2 B2 L' F2 L2 D2 B2 R B' L F2 L2 U' F' D L B'
4. 18.56 D2 B' U2 R2 F D2 B2 R2 U2 R2 F U' R D' F' L D B2 L2 F2
5. 19.23 R2 D B2 U L2 D' L2 D2 R2 U' F2 B U L R D B' U' B R2 U
 
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