Weekly competition 2009-23

[MatsBergsten]

4x4BLD: DNF [11:37 (5:44)]
One 3-cycle corners and one 3-cycle centers off.

About Multi I wonder what you can ask the judge to do. I have never competed
in Multi for real nor witnessed such an event. I seem to recall that Mike said
something about the judge telling the contestant the time say with ten minutes left
and two minutes left. I have checked the Competition Rules and found nothing but:
H1b1) When the total time is reached, the attempt is stopped and the number of solved and not solved puzzles is counted.
which I interpret that it is ok to go all the time and when the time is
out you just put the cube down and count the number of successful cubes.

But it must be a help to have some prewarning so as to use the time in the best way.

 

[MichaelErskine]

Michael Erskine
2x2x2: 18.38, (36.21), 27.55, 20.28, (18.31) = 22.07
(really should practice this puzzle - too many avoidable mistakes!)
3x3x3: (39.50), 47.63, 50.12, 50.21, (51.84) = 49.32
(Nooooo! 5 sec slower than my current average!)
4x4x4: (4:18.70), 3:52.80, 4:09.90, 4:03.58, (3:42.46) = 4:02.09
(let's see if I magically got faster in the past week since solving it last - nope!)
5x5x5: (6:43.35), (5:33.60), 6:01.71, 6:01.47, 6:38.67 = 6:13.95
(slower than last week!)
6x6x6: (17:28.38), 12:23.55, 11:38.97, 11:53.91, (10:43.80) = 11:58.81
(some bad mistakes in there!)
7x7x7: 13:39.70, 15:37.90, (13:14.70), (19:04.35), 16:05.46 = 15:07.69
(near 15 - I guess I'm happy!)
3x3 OH: (2:36.37), 2:19.40, (1:57.38), 2:25.51, 2:31.47 = 2:25.46
(using black puzl - similar to last time two weeks ago)
3x3x3 Match the scramble: 6:18.60, (3:17.25), 4:49.05, (6:31.39), 5:03.46 = 5:23.70
(maybe worse than last week! My mind doesn't work well with this chaos!)
2x2x2 + 3x3x3 + 4x4x4 Relay: 6:20.11
(oh dear!)
2x2x2 + 3x3x3 + 4x4x4 + 5x5x5 Relay: 12:01.72
(it's late!)
Megaminx: 6:02.80, (6:54.02), 6:01.74, (5:49.58), 6:11.75 = 6:05.43
(using DX PVC minx with new cubesmith stickers)
Pyraminx: (43.93), 29.05, (19.66), 23.40, 26.38 = 26.28
(my technique is not working well at the moment - I need to study to make less mistakes)
to be completed...

 

[Mike Hughey]

4x4BLD: DNF [11:37 (5:44)]
One 3-cycle corners and one 3-cycle centers off.

Wow - very fast! It's going to be nice when you hit one like this!

About Multi I wonder what you can ask the judge to do. I have never competed in Multi for real nor witnessed such an event. I seem to recall that Mike said something about the judge telling the contestant the time say with ten minutes left and two minutes left. I have checked the Competition Rules and found nothing but:
H1b1) When the total time is reached, the attempt is stopped and the number of solved and not solved puzzles is counted.
which I interpret that it is ok to go all the time and when the time is
out you just put the cube down and count the number of successful cubes.

But it must be a help to have some prewarning so as to use the time in the best way.

I don't remember ever saying anything like that; I've never had anything like that going on when I've competed. At Ohio, I got lucky and finished with only a few seconds left. But I got no warnings. At home I set a timer to go off when my 60 minutes is up, and stop when it goes off. I think it would not be fair to allow a judge to give you time warnings, since the rules don't provide for it and therefore not everyone would have that advantage. I think it needs to be considered part of the event that you need to have a proper feel of how much time you have to finish.

 

[MichaelErskine]

I've never had anything like that going on when I've competed. At Ohio, I got lucky and finished with only a few seconds left. But I got no warnings. At home I set a timer to go off when my 60 minutes is up, and stop when it goes off. I think it would not be fair to allow a judge to give you time warnings, since the rules don't provide for it and therefore not everyone would have that advantage. I think it needs to be considered part of the event that you need to have a proper feel of how much time you have to finish.

If I were competing I'd be tempted to have someone "in my corner" surreptitiously make me aware that I was about to run out of time

 

[MTGjumper]

Simon Crawford

3x3: 13.38, 13.62, 13.09, (11.37), (13.64) = 13.36
Spooky: I got the same average last week

2x2: 5.12, (5.43), (2.80), 4.69, 4.58 = 4.80
Normal. 2.80 was a OLL skip.

4x4: (59.36), (1:09.71), 1:02.50, 1:05.94, 1:06.75 = 1:05.06
Fairly normal. I incorporated this as the last 5 solves of an average of 25, and the 56.36 was the same as my other quickest time in the session (session average was 1:06.xx by the way)

5x5: 2:10.88, 1:58.25, (2:15.69), 1:57.57, (1:45.76) = 2:02.23
Good single, and good average. The 1:45 had reduction by about 1:20, and had the weird parity thing.

234:

2345:

OH:

Sq-1: (16.76), (26.63), 26.31, 21.42, 19.12 = 22.28
Yay, two sub-20s. Shame about the two 26s.

 

[fanwuq]

3x3x3 Speed:
Individual Times: 19.97, (24.45), 16.45, 17.20, (15.75)
Average: 17.87

3x3x3 BLD:

3x3x3 OH:

3x3x3 FMC:
D'LRF2U2F2)D'R'U2)FL2F'D'B'L'BL2D2L'D'L'D')L2BR'B'L2BRB')(BR2BL2B'R2BL2B2)
36 moves.
Bad start and 5 cycle finish.
Also found this 37 move:
D'LRF2U2F2)D'R'U2)D2B'L'B2DB')D'L2DL'D2LDL'DLD'L'D)D'L2DLD'L'DLD'LDL'
and this 16 move start with bad 3 twisted corners:
B2F'D2L2RB')R2F'D'LDF2U'RUR')

Reverse Scramble:
RLU2)FLF')URU'R2)RD2R2B'RB2D2)B2D2BDB'DBD'B'D')B'R')
28 moves leaving 3 corners.
I don't feel like doing insertions this week...
I could sub-35 this if I try. This is one of the times I won't bother to try.

2x2x2 speed:

2x2x2 BLD:

4x4x4 speed:

234 Relay:

Pyraminx:

 

[elimescube]

2x2x2: 5.19, (4.84), (7.58), 5.16, 6.33 = 5.56
Sort of... sloppy. But a normal resultant time none the less.
3x3x3: (14.90), 17.03, (17.97), 16.94, 16.52 = 16.83
Pretty normal.
4x4x4: 1:17.53, (1:11.13), 1:21.22, 1:18.78, (1:31.66) = 1:19.18
This isn't what I want, but it's what I deserve
5x5x5: 1:47.53, 1:51.56, (1:41.33), 1:55.08, (1:55.56) = 1:51.39
Much better than last week.
6x6x6: (4:14.33), (3:27.94), 3:56.66, 3:30.47, 4:04.77 = 3:50.63
Quite good and quite inconsistent.
7x7x7: (6:19.13), 6:00.84, (5:47.34), 6:01.75, 5:49.18 = 5:57.26
Those scrambles are a pain. I think this is pretty normal stuff for me.
3x3x3 BLD: DNF, DNF, 4:29.73 = 4:29.73
That was a close one
3x3x3 MultiBLD: 3/3 (25:23.66) (approx. 17 minute memorization)
I memorized the second cube's edges incorrectly, but fortunately the error became obvious during the solve and I fixed it with what I could recall visually . This is the first time I have ever been sub-10 minutes per cube for MultiBLD .
3x3x3 OH: 28.34, 32.11, 28.25, (37.15), (27.69) = 29.57
Sub-30 is agreeable, but I can go faster
3x3x3 FM: B' U' D' L' R2 F2 D' R2 B D2 B2 D' L' D L B' D2 B R2 F' R' F D F D F' D' F D2 F D F D F D' F' D' F2 D2 (39)
Scramble: L' U2 R2 F2 U2 F2 L' B2 R2 U2 L' U2 R D R D B' L' D2 L R'
B' U' D' L' R2 F2 (2x2x2)
D' R2 (preserved blocks 2x2x3)
B D2 B2 D' L' D L (third CE-pair)
B' D2 B R2 (finish F2L and cancellation)
F' R' F D F D F' D' F (canceled OLL)
D2 (combination)
F D F D F D' F' D' F2 (canceled PLL)
D2 (AUF)
My first attempt at an FMC. Awesome 19 move F2L! But can someone show me a better LL for my approach? I had many cancellations for LL, but I feel that there is more likely than not a shorter intelligible path.
2345 Relay: 3:36.36
Good
Megaminx: 2:25.68, 2:15.55, 2:25.27, (2:11.94), (2:31.80) = 2:22.17
I'm still not sure what is average for me on Megaminx, as I am often all over the place... I think this is good...
Square-1: (47.21), 43.97, (31.05), 33.09, 41.81 = 39.62
Could be worse, but I made some silly mistakes.

 

[marineasalia]

Marine Asalia
2x2:
3x3: (23.97), 20.33, 20.97, 19.91, (19.05) = 20.40
3x3 BLD:
4x4:

 

[Kev43]

2x2: 23.84; 25.78; 23.88; 22.26; 21.79 ==> 23.32 Hum...

3x3: 47.93; 39.52; 56.86; 57.81; 50.31 ==> 51.70

4x4: 3.46.68; 4.03.22; 3.45.90; 3.46.24; DNF ==> 3.52.04 Oh 5th solve was quite good but I made a mistake in parity...

2-4 relay: 5.18.72 I'll try to be sub-5...

 

[Mike Hughey]

Mike Hughey
3x3x3 Fewest Moves: 35 moves
R' U F R F' R' U2 B U B L F2 L' B2 L F2 L' R2 B2 R' B R2 B' R2 B2 D2 R2 B R L' B' L B U2 L'

Using inverse scramble: R L' D2 L B D' R' D' R' U2 L U2 R2 B2 L F2 U2 F2 R2 U2 L
2x2x2: L U2 B' L' B L
2x2x3: R' B' R2 D2
3x cross: B2 R2 B R2 B' R B2
4th pair: R2 . B U' B' U
OLL: U R F R' F' U'
AUF: R
insert at .: L F2 L' B2 L F2 L' B2
B2 B become B' after insertion; U U become U2 before OLL.

Comment: I'm trying to be like the fewest moves experts and be disappointed with a 35-move solution, but I admit it's hard for me to do that. I'm actually pretty happy I found this; the insertion wasn't very good, so I feel like 35 moves is still halfway decent. Well, it is for me, anyway.

 

[maxcube]

2x2 : (15.05), 10.04, 12.01, (9.28), 9.32 = 10.46
I don't like 2x2

3x3 : (22.61), 18.28, 20.00, (18.27), 21.36 = 19.88
Finally! sub20. It's been awhile since I've gotten one of these.

4x4 : (1:35.46), 1:42.58, (2:03.15), 1:39.96, 2:01.58 = 1:48.04
Good.

234 : 3:23.37
Bad.

3x3 BLD : 3:43.09, DNF, 2:51.64 = 2:51.64
Nice!

 

[Edam]

2x2 - 23.00, 23.83, 22.93, (16.66), (29.77) = 23.75
LOL
3x3 - 23.97, (20.77), 22.68, 24.68, (26.61) = 23.84
4x4 - 2:42.65, 2:28.88, (2:51.94), (2:04.84), 2:17.13 = 2:29.55
5x5 - 3:20.15, 2:59.81, (3:26.37), 3:09.89, (2:57.18) = 3:09.95

magic - 1.3, (1.28), 1.33, (1.56), 1.31 = 1.31
broke a string after the 1st solve but it all seems to be holding together for the moment

234 - 3:03.66
2345 - 6:33.90

 

[elimescube]

3x3x3 FM: B' U' D' L' R2 F2 D' R2 B D2 B2 D' L' D L B' D2 B R2 F' R' F D F D F' D' F D2 F D F D F D' F' D' F2 D2 (39)
Scramble: L' U2 R2 F2 U2 F2 L' B2 R2 U2 L' U2 R D R D B' L' D2 L R'
B' U' D' L' R2 F2 (2x2x2)
D' R2 (preserved blocks 2x2x3)
B D2 B2 D' L' D L (third CE-pair)
B' D2 B R2 (finish F2L and cancellation)
F' R' F D F D F' D' F (canceled OLL)
D2 (combination)
F D F D F D' F' D' F2 (canceled PLL)
D2 (AUF)
My first attempt at an FMC. Awesome 19 move F2L! But can someone show me a better LL for my approach? I had many cancellations for LL, but I feel that there is more likely than not a shorter intelligible path.

I thought I would quote this so that one of you FMC pros might try to optimize my approach

Thanks

 

[Lord Voldemort]

2x2: (13.22), 9.51, (5.10), 9.27, 6.79 = 8.52 - Horrible
3x3: (21.81), 21.63, (14.83), 19.64, 20.20 = 20.49 - Bad
4x4: 2:08.22, 2:17.20, (2:07.60), (2:40.69), 2:15.58 = 2:13.66 - Improvement!
2-4 Relay: 2x2 - 10, 3x3 - 16, 4x4 - 2:30 = 2:57.67 - Pretty good
5x5: 4:02.75, (4:52.52), 4:14.63, (3:53.80), 4:03.98 = 4:07.12
2-5 Relay 8:50.41
3x3 OH: 59.12, (41.71), 48.73, (DNF), 49.69 = 52.51
2x2 BLD:
3x3 BLD: 35:00.00, 60:00.00, DNF (13:19.78) = 35:00.00
Yay, this is my first successful BLD. I’m not sure about the exact time, but I’m sure it’s under 35 minutes. I keep getting interrupted. The 2nd was a success too, but I got interrupted to mow the lawn after starting memo . On the last one, I forgot the LAST part of the story...

FMC: 45
U2 R' D2 R D2 R D' R L F' - 2X2X3 (11)
L F L D F2 D' F' D F2 D F D' F'- 3X3X2 (23)
Z2 R U R' U R U2 R' y R U R' F' R U2 R' U2 R' F R U R U2 R' (45)

 

[fanwuq]

3x3x3 FM: B' U' D' L' R2 F2 D' R2 B D2 B2 D' L' D L B' D2 B R2 F' R' F D F D F' D' F D2 F D F D F D' F' D' F2 D2 (39)
Scramble: L' U2 R2 F2 U2 F2 L' B2 R2 U2 L' U2 R D R D B' L' D2 L R'
B' U' D' L' R2 F2 (2x2x2)
D' R2 (preserved blocks 2x2x3)
B D2 B2 D' L' D L (third CE-pair)
B' D2 B R2 (finish F2L and cancellation)
F' R' F D F D F' D' F (canceled OLL)
D2 (combination)
F D F D F D' F' D' F2 (canceled PLL)
D2 (AUF)
My first attempt at an FMC. Awesome 19 move F2L! But can someone show me a better LL for my approach? I had many cancellations for LL, but I feel that there is more likely than not a shorter intelligible path.

I thought I would quote this so that one of you FMC pros might try to optimize my approach

Thanks

Excellent move count for starting blocks! For LL, I would not use an OLL-PLL approach. Try to solve all the corners or edges, then insert a commutator to cycle the last few pieces. I generally do not bother with finishing F2L, just solve as many pieces as you can before leaving final 3, 4, 5, corners to be inserted as commutators. I've only bothered to read your post. Didn't bother looking at the solution yet. I'll do that I after I do this week's solve myself.

Comment: I'm trying to be like the fewest moves experts and be disappointed with a 35-move solution, but I admit it's hard for me to do that.

According to this definition, I might be an expert, but I know far less than Mirek, Guus, and Per. They are probably dissappointed by solves over 30 moves.

 

[elimescube]

One question: Are only physical puzzles allowed, or can I use a simulator for some puzzles I don't own?

You may only use puzzles with which you could compete in any WCA officiated competition. If you like, there is a Monthly Computer Cube Competition right here on this forum just for puzzle simulators.

 

[Lord Voldemort]

One more thing: I saw someone using 3x3x3 corners as a 2x2 in the weekly competition a few weeks ago. Is this allowed? I mean, it functions the same as a 2x2, but it's probably easier for most people.

 

[MatsBergsten]

Mats B
2x2: 20.89 24.76 16.24 30.44 25.24 = 23.63
If I cared I would cry.
3x3: 52.41 51.89 51.06 54.72 50.56 = 51.79
Decent for me. Best worst time.
4x4: 3:52.74 3:17.73 3:31.10 3:12.21 3:27.90 = 3:25.58
A step backwards (or two)
5x5: 8:35.72 10:08.83 12:31.64 10:04.31 7:25.25 = 9:36.29
ditto
2x2BLD: 62.44 DNF DNF = 62.44
I have not learned enough BH corners yet and hope for better times
with more practice.
3x3BLD: DNF DNF 2:47.40 = 2:47.40
Had to go slow on the last one. The others were faster.
4x4BLD: DNF (11:37, 5:44), DNF (16+), 12:47.94 (7:38) = 12:47.94
An oldfashioned YIPEEE!!
Finally a sub NR. I think it is the fastest exec I've ever had, almost only 5 min.
It felt good all the way!! But memo was not particularly fast, combine the first
memo with the last ones exec and there's room for further improvement.
5x5BLD: DNF DNF DNF = DNF
Ouch, no one really close. 30+ - 34+

Multi: 2/6 in 54:23 = DNF
Just plain bad. Must practice.
2-4Rel: 5:21.99
2-5Rel: 13:18.37

Altogether to low accuracy.
Only three solves in 12 tries. But the new PB on 4BLD saves the week.

 

[MistArts]

Comment: I'm trying to be like the fewest moves experts and be disappointed with a 35-move solution, but I admit it's hard for me to do that.

According to this definition, I might be an expert, but I know far less than Mirek, Guus, and Per. They are probably dissappointed by solves over 30 moves.

I'm not much of an expert by this definition.

 

[MatsBergsten]

One more thing: I saw someone using 3x3x3 corners as a 2x2 in the weekly competition a few weeks ago. Is this allowed? I mean, it functions the same as a 2x2, but it's probably easier for most people.

No, it is not allowed. That has been discussed before. I for one wanted it when I had no 2x2,
and I would still want it. It is like you say, it is very much easier to handle the 3x3.