Weekly competition 2008-28

Sikan Li
2x2x2: (6.30), (3.05), 4.72, 6.21, 6.16 => 5.70
3x3x3: 14.66, 14.41, (14.34), (14.84), 14.81 => 14.63
Too consistent, lol.
2x2x2 BLD: 52.66, DNF, 37.50 => 37.50
3x3x3 BLD:
3x3x3 Multi BLD:
3x3x3 OH: 23.33, (24.61), 23.08, 23.41, (22.97) => 23.27
3x3x3 FMC: (35)
Scramble: U' L2 U2 B2 R2 B2 U B2 D R B' R B2 D' B R D' B R' F
Explanation: z2 R F U F L U’ F U2 F B R’ F’ U2 B U’ B’ L U' F R’ F’ L’ F R F’ U2 L2 U’ F’ B L2 F B’ U’ L2 (35)
X2 Cross: z2 R F U F L U’ F U2 F B R’ F’ (12)
3rd pair: U2 B U’ B’ (16)
4th pair: L U’ (18)
OLL: F R’ F’ L’ F R F’ (25)
PLL: U2 L2 U’ F’ B L2 F B’ U’ L2 (35)

2ND Solution:
Scramble: U' L2 U2 B2 R2 B2 U B2 D R B' R B2 D' B R D' B R' F
Explanation: x2 y2 D’ R’ D2 F’ U R2 F’ R F D U’ B U2 B2 U’ B U R U R’ F U R U’ R’ F’ L F U F’ U’ L’ U (37)
Cross + 1st pair: x2 y2 D’ R’ D2 F’ U R2 F’ R F D (10)
2nd pair: U’ B U2 B2 U’ B (16)
3rd pair: U R U R’ (20)
4th pair: U’ R’ U’ R (24)
OLL: F U R U’ R’ F’ L F U F’ U’ L’ (36)
PLL: U (37)
 
Mike Hughey:
2x2x2: 14.52, 11.09, 12.27, 10.15, 10.36 = 11.24
3x3x3: 27.96, 21.03, 26.44, 29.53, 28.97 = 27.79
Comment: This was a surprise. I was over 30 seconds on almost all of my warmup solves. I think these were just lucky solves. Coincidentally, my LL on the second solve was exactly the same as Erik got on his 7.08 solve at the Czech Open. (Totally weird!) So I guess that means in general Erik can solve 3 cubes in the time I take to solve one. :)
4x4x4: 2:10.97 (O), 2:11.15 (O, +2), 2:00.75 (O), 1:52.33 (O), 2:06.50 (P) = 2:06.07
5x5x5: 3:17.27, 3:21.31, 3:20.52, 2:49.90, 3:01.44 = 3:13.08
Comment: So frustrating. Since getting my V-cubes, my times for 5x5x5 have gotten consistently 15 seconds worse. And I can’t blame it on the V-cube itself, because I tried my Eastsheen, and I’m even slower with that. I was getting better at 5x5x5 – what happened? :(
6x6x6: 9:02.83 (O, POP), 7:41.21, 8:46.25 (P, POP), 7:40.91, DNF (bad POP) = 8:30.10
Comment: Okay, so I’m popping more than half the time now. The last one would have been sub-7:30, but I popped at the very end. As it was, one of the internal pieces popped out, and it took me close to 11 minutes to get it done. So the stackmat ran out and I had to take a DNF.
7x7x7: 13:02.33, 12:24.31, 10:50.96, 11:20.65 (POP), 11:00.79 = 11:35.25
2x2x2 BLD: 49.61, 42.88, 49.83 = 42.88
3x3x3 BLD: DNF (3:38.25), 5:28.16, 2:36.65 = 2:36.65
Comment: Awful! The first one was off by parity. On the second one, I forgot some of the memo, but stuck with it for 3 minutes doing nothing and finally recalled it and got it right.
4x4x4 BLD: 11:37.87 (5:49), DNF (1:21.50, 4:57), DNF (10:15.57, 5:07) = 11:37.87
Comment: Not a good week for the little cubes BLD. (I like to think of 4x4x4 as a little cube now. :))
5x5x5 BLD: 27:50.00 (15:03), 18:27.22 (9:30), 23:23.07 (11:53) = 18:27.22
Comment: Well, I know I’m not keeping up with Alex (I just can’t seem to keep up with you kids!), but it was still very good for me. My first sub-20.
6x6x6 BLD: DNF (2:03:31.03, 1:21:45), DNF (1:02:44.90, 27:04), DNF (1:00:45.86, 26:50) = DNF
Comment: The first one was just awful – I was too tired to memorize effectively. But I kept trying (I can’t stand to give up!). Off by 2 inner X, 3 outer X, 4 corners, 11 inner edges, 8 outer edges. Looked like I made a bad U turn setup undo somewhere. The second one was more normal - I actually had enough sleep the night before, so it helped. Off by 3 outer edges, 2 obliques, and 2 inner X centers. The third one I gave up in the middle because I knew I had messed up a commutator on the inner X centers. I was able to look at the cube and figure out what I did wrong, so I pulled the blindfold back on and actually solved it from there. So at least now I've done a 6x6x6 with just 2 looks.
7x7x7 BLD: DNS yet, DNS, DNS
3x3x3 multiBLD: 12/15 = 9 points, 1:59:39.46 (1:16:15 memorization)
Comment: Fifth cube off by 4 CO (unpacked hexadecimal wrong), sixth cube off by 2 EO (memorized wrong sticker of a piece), tenth cube off by 2 EO (memorized wrong sticker of a piece). At least my time went down by 15 minutes over last week, even if the result was significantly worse this week than it was last week.
3x3x3 OH: 55.25, 55.28, 51.83, 42.83, 55.69 = 54.12
3x3x3 WF: 2:34.21, 3:59.66, 2:50.50, 3:20.90, 2:27.97 = 2:55.20
Comment: Messed up the PLL on the second one; had to start over on F2L. I don’t seem to be improving any more, Dene – sorry.
3x3x3 Match the scramble: 4:25.16, 2:32.50, 2:10.30, 2:19.09, 2:29.94 = 2:27.18
Comment: On the first one, accidentally scrambled it while doing LL and had to start over.
2-4 relay: 2:39.90 (OP)
2-5 relay: 6:05.33 (P)
2-6 relay: 13:52.37 (none, OP)
2-7 relay: 25:04.74 (OP, O)
Comment: Much better on the relays for me this week.
Magic: 2.56, 2.55, 2.08, 2.09, 2.06 = 2.24
Master Magic: 4.93, 4.36, 4.93, 4.19, 4.59 = 4.63
Snake: Don’t have one.
Clock: 29.27, 26.96, 24.47, 32.41, 21.02 = 26.90
Comment: Last week my average would have been bottom in the USA. Now it’s third from bottom. Great improvement!!! :)
MegaMinx: 3:41.16, 3:16.75, 3:50.52, 4:04.38, 3:00.61 = 3:36.14
Comment: I’m spending too much time with the big cubes and my MegaMinx times are suffering.
Pyraminx: 21.72, 25.03, 26.00, 17.96, 24.93 = 23.89
Square-1: 1:37.78 (P), 1:41.59 (P), 1:24.33 (P), 49.18, 1:10.08 (P) = 1:24.06
3x3x3 Fewest Moves: 42 moves
D B D’ U’ L’ U2 L F L’ D2 L F2 U D’ L’ B’ L B D B L B’ R2 L2 F L’ F’ R2 D’ U’ L U B D’ B’ L’ B L D L’ B’ L2
2x2x3: D B D’ U’ L’ U2 L F L’ D2 L F2 U D’
3x cross: L’ B’ L B D . L2 D’
finish F2L: U’ L U
OLL: B D’ B’ L’ B L D L’ B’
AUF: L2
insert at .: B L B’ R2 L2 F L’ F’ R2 L2
L2 L2 cancel at .
Another bad solve – mainly because of a bad start. I probably should have tried inverse scramble, but I didn’t have time.
4x4x4 Fewest Moves: 105 moves
F' Lw' U' Lw2 F' B2 Uw' U Rw' U2 Rw Dw L' Uw2 R' B Uw' R2 Uw' F2 Uw2 B Uw' B2 Uw B Dw2 B' D' B Dw2 U2 Rw B R2 B' Rw' R' Fw R' F2 R Fw' U F Lw' U' L U Lw R2 Fw2 D B' D' R' B2 R Dw2 L2 Fw2 F2 L2 Dw2 Fw2 B U R B' U2 D F' B U B2 U R' U2 R2 B' R2 B R B2 R B U R2 L D' L' U L D L' U' F' U' R' U R F R' U' R'
centers: F' Lw' U' Lw2
F' B2 Uw' U Rw' U2 Rw
Dw L' Uw2
R' B Uw' R2 Uw' F2 Uw2
B Uw' B2 Uw
edges: B Dw2 B' D' B Dw2
U2 Rw B R2 B' Rw'
R' Fw R' F2 R Fw'
U F Lw' U' L U Lw
R2 Fw2 D B' D' R' B2 R Fw2 .
3x3x3: B U R B' U2 D F'
3x3x4: B U B2 U R' U2
3x cross: R2 B' R2 B R B'
finish F2L: B' R B U R2 U'
OLL: U . F' U' R' U R F R' U'
AUF: R'
insert at first .: Fw2 Dw2 L2 Fw2 F2 L2 Dw2 Fw2 (PLL parity)
insert at second .: L D' L' U L D L' U'
Fw2 Fw2 cancel at first .; B' B' become B2 after 3x cross; U' U cancel after F2L.
I was happy that I was able to figure out how to avoid OLL parity, but I still don't understand how to avoid PLL parity. At least I was able to get a small cancellation on the PLL parity by inserting it. Overall, it seemed like a better solution than it wound up being; I think my biggest problem was the edge matching - that and the fact that I'm still not that good at 3x3x3 fewest moves.
 
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3x3x3 Fewest Moves: 42 moves
D B D’ U’ L’ U2 L F L’ D2 L F2 U D’ L’ B’ L B D B L B’ R2 L2 F L’ F’ R2 D’ U’ L U B D’ B’ L’ B L D L’ B’ L2
2x2x3: D B D’ U’ L’ U2 L F L’ D2 L F2 U D’
3x cross: L’ B’ L B D . L2 D’
finish F2L: U’ L U
OLL: B D’ B’ L’ B L D L’ B’
AUF: L2
insert at .: B L B’ R2 L2 F L’ F’ R2 L2
L2 L2 cancel at .
Another bad solve – mainly because of a bad start. I probably should have tried inverse scramble, but I didn’t have time.

YES! I beat mike at FMC. Now I'm after Arnaud! Probably not really.
 
YES! I beat mike at FMC. Now I'm after Arnaud! Probably not really.

Setting your sights on me for FMC is setting them pretty low. I get the occasional lucky solve, but I pretty much stink at fewest moves. But I like doing them anyway.

Good job this week, though! I would have been quite happy with 36 moves.
 
YES! I beat mike at FMC. Now I'm after Arnaud! Probably not really.

Setting your sights on me for FMC is setting them pretty low. I get the occasional lucky solve, but I pretty much stink at fewest moves. But I like doing them anyway.

Good job this week, though! I would have been quite happy with 36 moves.

Too bad after 9 minutes, I couldn't find an improvement.
 
Nice one on the 5x5x5 BLD Mr. Hughey! And keep working on feet solving. I still think you would imnprove most with working on speedsolving the 3x3x3. It would help you with recognition, and learning a wider variety of finger tricks.
 
Mike, the same thing happened with me on the 5x5. I was averaging around 1:35 before my v-cubes came, and then I shot up to about 1:45 on all of my cubes. I just had to do a lot of solves to get back down to a decent average.
 
Comment: So frustrating. Since getting my V-cubes, my times for 5x5x5 have gotten consistently 15 seconds worse. And I can’t blame it on the V-cube itself, because I tried my Eastsheen, and I’m even slower with that. I was getting better at 5x5x5 – what happened? :(

Clearly you have not been spending enough time practicing 5x5x5 then (not unlike what Dan said)! ;)
 
Mike, the same thing happened with me on the 5x5. I was averaging around 1:35 before my v-cubes came, and then I shot up to about 1:45 on all of my cubes. I just had to do a lot of solves to get back down to a decent average.

Fair enough - time to do lots of solves before Nationals. I am encouraged by that 2:49 I got, though. At least not ALL of my solves are worse than they were before.

Amazing that you can talk about your times shooting up to 1:45. You're amazing!

Exo, yeah, you're right - I've been spending too much time with 6x6x6 and 7x7x7. I'm going to focus on 5x5x5 the rest of the week.
 
Another great solve ruined by the parity! Why can't I find a redux with no parity?!

Why not count the cycles of the wings from the starting scramble, and make sure to solve the centers such as to cancel out parity? For example, if your wings have odd parity, then solve the centers using an odd number of quarter turns. If your wings have even parity, then solve the centers using an even number of quarter turns.

For the PLL parity, count the edge group cycles at the end of the redux part, and make sure you solve the last edge groups in such a way as to make the edge parity the same as the corner parity.

I have yet to try a 4FMC, but I'm really excited about it. It sounds fun!

Chris
 
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Mats Luthman:

2x2x2 blindfolded:
1: DNF
2: 1:41.80
3: 1:23.81

= 1:23.81


3x3x3 blindfolded:
1: 4:50.28
2: 4:52.05
3: DNF

= 4:50.28


4x4x4 blindfolded:
1: DNF
2: 36:53.43
3: DNS

= 36:53.43
 
Thank you. I'm so much hoping to be able to succeed in this event at the Swedish Open in September. I will never be fast, but I don't care who beats me or what my time will be if I just make it in competition.

I'm glad someone else has the same attitude I had. I was saying the exact same thing as you just 8 or 9 months ago. My 3x3x3 and 4x4x4 BLD times then were pretty much the same as what you got this week. Now, I'm *still* saying "I will never be fast", but now I mean "I will never be as fast as Chris or Rowe or Rafal". Keep at it, and you could find yourself getting much faster times someday - perhaps sooner than you think!
 
2x2x2: 18.53 8.08 18.91 32.91 15.02 => 17.49
I love R2 U2 R U2 R2 :)

3x3x3: 21.47 21.69 22.20 24.81 22.09 => 21.99
The second one was +2 :(

3x3x3_OH: 33.45 37.16 31.89 39.73 34.11 => 34.91
I don't know how I'm doing this with no warm up :)

3x3x3_feet: 3:13.56 2:19.11 2:02.94 1:57.83 1:30.52 => 2:06.63
The first one was a pop, the next 3 had slow F2L's.

4x4x4: 1:45.63 1:33.17 1:49.45 1:33.25 1:48.06 => 1:42.31
Stupid lube.

5x5x5: 3:25.25 3:44.45 3:18.89 3:46.19 3:54.94 => 3:38.63
Done on a retooled Rubik's that I'm breaking in. The inner layers are good, but the outer layers are so stiff.
 
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2x2x2: 18.53 8.08 18.91 32.91 15.02 => 17.49

3x3x3_feet: 3:13.56 2:19.11 2:02.94 1:57.83 1:30.52 => 2:06.63
The first one was a pop, the next 3 had slow F2L's.

So, did you have to put it back together with your feet? =P


Out of curiosity, is your 2x2x2 particularly bad? Your average was only 5 seconds faster than your 3x3x3 average.
 
2x2x2: 18.53 8.08 18.91 32.91 15.02 => 17.49

3x3x3_feet: 3:13.56 2:19.11 2:02.94 1:57.83 1:30.52 => 2:06.63
The first one was a pop, the next 3 had slow F2L's.

So, did you have to put it back together with your feet? =P


Out of curiosity, is your 2x2x2 particularly bad? Your average was only 5 seconds faster than your 3x3x3 average.

Yes, it was only one edge and I put it back in with my feet.

I only just started 2x2x2. It's a Rubik's which is not the best, but is getting better. I have to solve it "Fridrich" style although I know a lot of Guimond by now.
 
Yes, it was only one edge and I put it back in with my feet.

I only just started 2x2x2. It's a Rubik's which is not the best, but is getting better. I have to solve it "Fridrich" style although I know a lot of Guimond by now.
Ack, I'm awful at cubing with my feet. It takes me about 12 minutes for a solve... I don't think I could achieve enough froce to ever make it pop though. Did you pick the piece up with your toes and just jam it in?
 
Basically. First I had to get the corners out of the way, then I picked the cubie up with my feet and got it sitting there, then I held it in place with one foot and pushed with the other.
 
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