Weekly competition 2008-41

[AvGalen]

5x5x5: 2:11.15 2:34.55 1:16.91 2:14.52 2:04.71 = 2:10.13

Hmm, are you serious. 1:16.91 is awesome!!! Lucky or not

Per

oops, that should be a 2:16.91 . 1:16.91 would only happen during a really good reduction and a 3x3x3 skip:rolleyes:

5x5x5: 2:11.15 2:34.55 2:16.91 2:14.52 2:04.71 = 2:14.19

 

[iainfs]

3x3x3: (42.23) 36.20 39.35 32.28 (30.59) = 35.94
Comment: This is really rubbish! 1st solve was appalling - messed up the cross and did the wrong PLL. Other solves were all on the slow side, apart from the last which is closer to my normal average (just over 30s). Average is about 3 seconds over par, and my PB is a technically non-lucky 24 this morning I am very inconsistent atm.

3x3x3_bf: 17:40.38 19:53.76 DNF = 17:40.38
Comment: Solve 1 - Ridiculously slow, I know, but at least I got it. I'm using Classic Pochmann with Roman Rooms. I learnt the method yesterday (thanks to badmephisto and Joel). This is actually my first successful blind (only attempted edges/corners separately before now)! Solve 2 - My second successful blind! Even slower, it was more complicated this time, more cycles; I had to use an additional room. At one point, I thought I'd made a mistake in a T-perm but it must've been good Solve 3 - Gave up memorising corners, there were so many cycles and I was getting bored of BLD

Overall comment: Happy with the BLD, although they're very slow, I was successful on both scrambles I seriously attempted. 3x3 2H was really poor today

Oh and this is my first post

 

[Mike Hughey]

4x4x4 BLD: 10:48.84 (4:42), 9:22.10 (4:51), 11:25.88 (3:41) = 9:22.10

Stackmat! :-D

Chris

Notice the inverse correlation between memo times and solving times!

I was inspired by these comments and tried something I don't remember ever trying before. I went to a stackmat and did a 4x4x4 BLD, this time with no backup stopwatch, in case I ran out of time. I made sure I spent enough time memorizing that I wouldn't slow down on execution. Result: 9:14.50 (4:35). Somehow, this is much more thrilling than a sub-9 on a stopwatch.

I suspect it will be a while before I'm willing to do this on weekly competition solves, though. And it will be quite a while before I'm as crazy as Chris, who does this in official competitions. (He actually makes the judge put down the stopwatch before he solves, just to give himself pressure!)

3x3x3_bf: 17:40.38 19:53.76 DNF = 17:40.38
Oh and this is my first post

Congratulations on your first BLD solves - way faster than my first one! Nice first post!

 

[joey]

I was inspired by these comments and tried something I don't remember ever trying before. I went to a stackmat and did a 4x4x4 BLD, this time with no backup stopwatch, in case I ran out of time. I made sure I spent enough time memorizing that I wouldn't slow down on execution. Result: 9:14.50 (4:35). Somehow, this is much more thrilling than a sub-9 on a stopwatch.

Gogogogo Mike!!

 

[Mirek]

FMC:
R' U2 F' U2 B2 U' R F U' R2 B U B' U2 R2 U' D' R' D R' B2 L U' L' B2 U' R F (28 move, 52 min)
I found it this way,
pseudo 2x2x3: R' U2 F' U2 B2 (U') R F
U' R2 B U B' U2 R2 U' R2* U' R F + 2 corners and 2 edges
insert at *: R2 D' R' D R' B2 L U' L' B2 U' R
There are likely better ways of finishing than this particular insertion but I didn't see them.

 

[guusrs]

FMC:
Hard scramble for me. Didn't find any sub 35 within first 50 minutes but finally found this lucky one:
U' B' U2 F2 L2 F' R2 F R' F' R' D' R2 D2 R' D R2 D' R F2 R2 F' L' B U2 B' L F2 R' L2 (30)

turn prescramble-move L2 to see whats happening
2x2x2: U' B' U2 F2 L2 (5)
F2L: F' R2 F R' F' R' D' R2 D2 R' D R2 D' R F' (20)
LL: F' R2 F' L' B U2 B' L F2 R' (29)
correction: L2 (30)

Congrats Mirek!

Gus

 

[guusrs]

FMC:
R' U2 F' U2 B2 U' R F U' R2 B U B' U2 R2 U' D' R' D R' B2 L U' L' B2 U' R F (28 move, 52 min)
I found it this way,
pseudo 2x2x3: R' U2 F' U2 B2 (U') R F
U' R2 B U B' U2 R2 U' R2* U' R F + 2 corners and 2 edges
insert at *: R2 D' R' D R' B2 L U' L' B2 U' R
There are likely better ways of finishing than this particular insertion but I didn't see them.

Hi Mirek,
Spendid start. after your 14th move 10 moves is optimal (found using Cube Explorer):
D' R2 D B2 U' B2 R2 U2 R F
Do you see any logic in it?
There should be!
Gus

 

[AvGalen]

Mirek and I found the same start for FMC, but he added the (U') and had a much better finish (his insertions are crazy)

And Guus always beats me on the last layer

 

[Dene]

2x2x2: 18.28 14.77 10.71 13.52 13.34 => 13.88

3x3x3: 22.97 18.15 21.90 16.69 19.56 =>19.87

3x3x3_OH: 49.90 28.66 39.59 36.63 26.16 => 34.96
The first one had the F2L finished at 15 seconds... The last one was a PLL skip.

3x3x3_feet: 1:43.38 1:53.78 1:31.21 1:35.15 1:45.72 => 1:41.42

4x4x4: 1:22.36 1:11.16 1:23.15 1:13.97 1:23.19 => 1:19.83
All the bad ones were double parity, I can't remember about the good ones, I think 1 of them was double parity too...

5x5x5: 2:05.52 2:07.40 2:11.71 2:09.53 2:09.94 => 2:08.96
These should all have been sub2...

6x6x6: 4:29.02 4:53.58 4:33.93 6:05.71 4:07.43 => 4:38.84
So close! If only no parity (and no minor pops).

7x7x7: 6:13.63 6:52.66 6:30.96 6:35.88 6:08.63 => 6:26.82

While we're here, I don't get the megaminx notation. Is there a good explanation for it somewhere?

 

[AvGalen]

MegaMinx notation is really simple, but I didn't get it in the beginning because I didn't know moves were "wide-turns". This is how it works:
example-scramble: R++ D++ R-- D-- U' R++
* Start with white on top, green on front. On my MegaMinx that means purple is the Up-Left color.
* Hold on to the 1x3 row of Up-Left (white-purple) and perform a R2 move on the whole MegaMinx, except for the purple face on the left. (compare to L2 x2)
* Keep holding on to the 1x3 row of Up-Left (white-purple) and perform a D2 move on the whole MegaMinx, except for the white face on the top. (compare to U2 y2')
* Keep holding on to the 1x3 row of Up-Left (white-purple) and perform a R2' move on the whole MegaMinx, except for the purple face on the left.
* Keep holding on to the 1x3 row of Up-Left (white-purple) and perform a D2' move on the whole MegaMinx, except for the white face on the top.
* Now just perform a regular U' move so the 1x3 row of Up-Left (white-purple) moves to Up-Front
* Hold on to the (now partly scrambled) 1x3 row of Up-Left and perform a R2 move on the whole MegaMinx, except for the (now partly scrambled) face on the left.

 

[Laetitia]

2x2x2: 11.44 11.36 7.18 8.56 10.93 => 10,28

3x3x3: 17.27 22.97 17.91 30.53 20.90 => 20,59

4x4x4: 2:19.33 2:04.52 (pop) 2:19.08 1:54.78 2:26.68 =>2:14,31

5x5x5: 3:52.19 3:22.47 3:38.83 3:27.93 3:24.15 => 3:30.30

6x6x6:
6:57.99 7:19.94 6:27.23 7:24.05 (lots of Pops) 7:09.63 => 7:09.18

7x7x7:
12:54 12:56 12:04 11:47 10:50 => 12:15
Done in the train. It's funny when people look at you solving a 7x7x7

Megaminx:
1:29.56 1:33.28 1:27.47 1:22.59 (pop!!) 1:18.53 =>1:26.54
Three bad times... These times are my 5 first solves of the day^^

 

[Mirek]

Mirek and I found the same start for FMC, but he added the (U') and had a much better finish (his insertions are crazy)

And Guus always beats me on the last layer

One move insertions are always worth to explore. They take very little time.
I can't do odd insertions (transposition of two corners and two edges c2e2) if they are not in the same layer, though, namely because I remember only few algorithms. As I know, there are 17 different 13-quarter-turn such c2e2 algorithms, most of them hard to remember. Long time ago, I collected 46 15-quarter-turn c2e2 that are not isomorphic and all their circular shifts are different. That was without any computer program. I suspect that there are some more of them. Are they practical? Mostly not.

 

[AvGalen]

Mirek and I found the same start for FMC, but he added the (U') and had a much better finish (his insertions are crazy)

And Guus always beats me on the last layer

One move insertions are always worth to explore. They take very little time.
I can't do odd insertions (transposition of two corners and two edges c2e2) if they are not in the same layer, though, namely because I remember only few algorithms. As I know, there are 17 different 13-quarter-turn such c2e2 algorithms, most of them hard to remember. Long time ago, I collected 46 15-quarter-turn c2e2 that are not isomorphic and all their circular shifts are different. That was without any computer program. I suspect that there are some more of them. Are they practical? Mostly not.

I am still very slow with corner-insertions. It is hard for me to use them in a 1 hour solve. Doing a 4 or 5 corner insertion (2 times 3 corners) is something I just can't do in 1 hour. Edge-insertions are so much easier and faster, but they either cancel really well or not at all (like this week). I only know about 30 algs in total for the entire cube so I really have to rely on getting a good start. As long as I can use intuition the manipulate the pieces I can do really well, but if I don't get slightly lucky on the ending it will never become a sub 30 solve.

 

[Mike Hughey]

3x3x3_feet: 1:43.38 1:53.78 1:31.21 1:35.15 1:45.72 => 1:41.42

You're really getting quite good with feet! I just can't keep up, sorry.

5x5x5: 2:05.52 2:07.40 2:11.71 2:09.53 2:09.94 => 2:08.96
These should all have been sub2...

I remember when you thought I was good at 5x5x5. It wasn't that long ago.

 

[Dene]

Thanks Mr. van Galen, I completely understand now. Also, when I have white on top, green on front, it put purple on the up-right face, is that normal? That's how it came.

Mr. Hughey: I wish my feet times would get faster. And yeah, V-cube really helped my 5x5x5 times, and I practise it a lot. Also, giantcube practise has really helped.

 

[guusrs]

One move insertions are always worth to explore. They take very little time.
I can't do odd insertions (transposition of two corners and two edges c2e2) if they are not in the same layer, though, namely because I remember only few algorithms. As I know, there are 17 different 13-quarter-turn such c2e2 algorithms, most of them hard to remember. Long time ago, I collected 46 15-quarter-turn c2e2 that are not isomorphic and all their circular shifts are different. That was without any computer program. I suspect that there are some more of them. Are they practical? Mostly not.

Hi Mirek, 17 different algorithms up to 13 moves for c2e2 is impressive. You still use/know them?
But I don't think it's very useful for 1 hour competition. I use 3 different algs for c2e2, 10 or 11 moves each.

Gus

 

[AvGalen]

Thanks Mr. van Galen, I completely understand now. Also, when I have white on top, green on front, it put purple on the up-right face, is that normal? That's how it came.

It seems like every type of MegaMinx has a different colorscheme

 

[Mirek]

One move insertions are always worth to explore. They take very little time.
I can't do odd insertions (transposition of two corners and two edges c2e2) if they are not in the same layer, though, namely because I remember only few algorithms. As I know, there are 17 different 13-quarter-turn such c2e2 algorithms, most of them hard to remember. Long time ago, I collected 46 15-quarter-turn c2e2 that are not isomorphic and all their circular shifts are different. That was without any computer program. I suspect that there are some more of them. Are they practical? Mostly not.

Hi Mirek, 17 different algorithms up to 13 moves for c2e2 is impressive. You still use/know them?
But I don't think it's very useful for 1 hour competition. I use 3 different algs for c2e2, 10 or 11 moves each.

Gus

Don't take me wrong, I have their list but don't remember them. Actively, I use just 4 of c2e2 that are, yes, 10 or 11 face moves.
Mirek

 

[Dene]

Thanks Mr. van Galen, I completely understand now. Also, when I have white on top, green on front, it put purple on the up-right face, is that normal? That's how it came.

It seems like every type of MegaMinx has a different colorscheme

Strange. Is it normal for the megaminx to be all sticky and disgusting despite my many attempts to clean it?

 

[mrCage]

One move insertions are always worth to explore. They take very little time.
I can't do odd insertions (transposition of two corners and two edges c2e2) if they are not in the same layer, though, namely because I remember only few algorithms. As I know, there are 17 different 13-quarter-turn such c2e2 algorithms, most of them hard to remember. Long time ago, I collected 46 15-quarter-turn c2e2 that are not isomorphic and all their circular shifts are different. That was without any computer program. I suspect that there are some more of them. Are they practical? Mostly not.

Hi Mirek, 17 different algorithms up to 13 moves for c2e2 is impressive. You still use/know them?
But I don't think it's very useful for 1 hour competition. I use 3 different algs for c2e2, 10 or 11 moves each.

Gus

Don't take me wrong, I have their list but don't remember them. Actively, I use just 4 of c2e2 that are, yes, 10 or 11 face moves.
Mirek

Those c2e2 algs can be useful i guess, but my strategy (if the situation came up) would be like so: insert a turn to convert into edge 3-cycle and corner 3-cycle instead. Finding insertions for those (separately) would be much easier (even if cancellations would not be too good). Inserting that quarterturn may even cancel a turn you did already

Per