Weekly competition 2008-42

[Mike Hughey]

EDIT: Don't see why everyone's best 2x2x2 solve wasn't the 2nd one. 2 moves for first layer and OLL, then a T-Perm (or equivalent) In fact, on hindsight, I can see an 11 move solution, and I suck at FMC..

probably because they use guimond/didnt see it/ or messed up.

In my case it was because I'm terrible at T-Perm on a 2x2x2. I saw your solution (although I didn't realize that all that was left was a T-perm when I was done with the first layer until I got there), but got a 10.50. Probably 6 seconds of it were the T-Perm. I can do a T-Perm on a 3x3x3 in about 3.5 seconds, but on a 2x2x2 I'm much worse for some reason.

 

[AvGalen]

EDIT: Don't see why everyone's best 2x2x2 solve wasn't the 2nd one. 2 moves for first layer and OLL, then a T-Perm (or equivalent) In fact, on hindsight, I can see an 11 move solution, and I suck at FMC..

probably because they use guimond/didnt see it/ or messed up.

In my case it was because I'm terrible at T-Perm on a 2x2x2. I saw your solution (although I didn't realize that all that was left was a T-perm when I was done with the first layer until I got there), but got a 10.50. Probably 6 seconds of it were the T-Perm. I can do a T-Perm on a 3x3x3 in about 3.5 seconds, but on a 2x2x2 I'm much worse for some reason.

2x2x2: 7.84 4.46 8.36 7.75 7.25 = 7.61
And I use A-perm to "swap 2 corners"

 

[Jude]

EDIT: Don't see why everyone's best 2x2x2 solve wasn't the 2nd one. 2 moves for first layer and OLL, then a T-Perm (or equivalent) In fact, on hindsight, I can see an 11 move solution, and I suck at FMC..

probably because they use guimond/didnt see it/ or messed up.

Well that would explain it!

Probably 6 seconds of it were the T-Perm. I can do a T-Perm on a 3x3x3 in about 3.5 seconds, but on a 2x2x2 I'm much worse for some reason.

For some reason my 2x2x2 T perm is faster than on 3x3x3, even though I have a nasty 2x2x2 :S

EDIT:

2x2x2: 7.84 4.46 8.36 7.75 7.25 = 7.61
And I use A-perm to "swap 2 corners"

I'm faster with T than with A, although I haven't really tried enough with A to get used to it..

 

[Mike Hughey]

2x2x2: 7.84 4.46 8.36 7.75 7.25 = 7.61
And I use A-perm to "swap 2 corners"

You mentioned that before in another context (4-look last layer); I hadn't thought of using it for 2x2x2. That will help me lots - thanks! Now I just need to get used to it...

 

[AvGalen]

2x2x2: 7.84 4.46 8.36 7.75 7.25 = 7.61
And I use A-perm to "swap 2 corners"

You mentioned that before in another context (4-look last layer); I hadn't thought of using it for 2x2x2. That will help me lots - thanks! Now I just need to get used to it...

Have fun using it, you can pick which A you want to use naturally

And what I found funny about scramble 2 is that even when you don't see the 2 move white/yellow seperation/orientation you have another chance of accidently doing them if you do the 3 move blue layer

 

[Jude]

Hmm, one of you FMC experts fancy helping me out with my solution? This is the 2nd time I've ever tried it and this is what I've got so far..

F' L' F' R D' L2 F L' (2 pairs and 2 edge pieces on D cross)
Y2
U F' U' L F' L'

Now, this would be a 14 move triple x cross which I think is good (or at least OK?) but one edge piece isn't in the cross and I can't find a way of adding it other than:
(Y) U2 R' L F2 R L'
Which leaves a horrible last pair, 6 move OLL and horrible PLL. Any comments would be much appreciated!

EDIT: The insertion ( B U' L2 U B') after the F' L' F' at the start gives the triple x cross in 1 less move, but the rest is still pretty horrible..

EDIT2: I Have it! After the triple x cross, putting the last pair in like F U R U2 R' U2 F' gives an OLL skip AND an A perm! My final solution is:

2x2x3 block: F' L' F' B U' L2 U B' R D' L2 F L'
Last edge and 3rd pair: (Y2) U F' U' L F' L'
Last pair and OLL: F U R U2 R' U2 F'
PLL: (X) R' U R' D2 R U' R' D2 R2 B'

36 moves, my new PB! (heh, 2nd attempt ever, my 1st was 43 )

EDIT: See post(s) on next/previous pages, got 32 moves in the end!

 

[iainfs]

3: (30.47) 33.22 (38.94) 34.73 35.95 = 34.63

Comment: A slight improvement on last week. The first solve was pretty nice, but I'm still getting cube amnesia. My look-ahead in F2L could do with work. The LLs were quite fast for me though

3_bf: DNF 18:09.42 DNF = 18:09.42

Solve one was rubbish, but I haven't practiced since last week. Solve two was good, if slow. Solve 3 was much faster and off only by the last 4 edges, which were flipped in place. I've swapped over to the sentence method for corners, I really like it.

 

[AvGalen]

Hmm, one of you FMC experts fancy helping me out with my solution? This is the 2nd time I've ever tried it and this is what I've got so far..

F' L' F' R D' L2 F L' (2 pairs and 2 edge pieces on D cross)
Y2
U F' U' L F' L'

Now, this would be a 14 move triple x cross which I think is good (or at least OK?) but one edge piece isn't in the cross and I can't find a way of adding it other than:
(Y) U2 R' L F2 R L'
Which leaves a horrible last pair, 6 move OLL and horrible PLL. Any comments would be much appreciated!

EDIT: The insertion ( B U' L2 U B') after the F' L' F' at the start gives the triple x cross in 1 less move, but the rest is still pretty horrible..

EDIT2: I Have it! After the triple x cross, putting the last pair in like F U R U2 R' U2 F' gives an OLL skip AND an A perm! My final solution is:

2x2x3 block: F' L' F' B U' L2 U B' R D' L2 F L'
Last edge and 3rd pair: (Y2) U F' U' L F' L'
Last pair and OLL: F U R U2 R' U2 F'
PLL: (X) R' U R' D2 R U' R' D2 R2 B'

36 moves, my new PB! (heh, 2nd attempt ever, my 1st was 43 )

nice, now try to make it better by doing the A-perm as an insertion during your solve

 

[Derrick Eide17]

Derrick Eide.

7x7x7: 6:05.77, 6:01.76, (5:51.76), (6:17.21), 5:59.15 = 6:02.22 avg
Comment: more than 1 pop on every damn solve GRRR

 

[Rubixcubematt]

2x2:8.97, (5.52), (11.53), 10.38, 8.58=9.31 av
i kno i suck.
3x3 OH: (32.66), 43.64, (50.50), 39.06, 38.20=40.30 av
pretty good
4x4: (1:54.62), 1:37.74, (1:30.89),1:49.06, 1:40.80=1:42.53
really good for me. a PB average and single infact!
2-4=2:51.34
pretty crap, stuffed up 4x4 parity.

 

[Koen]

Clock:
11.30 11.52 (12.40) 11.66 (8.86)
Average: 11.49

very bad average :'(


Megaminx:
(6:44.47) 4:11.27 4:54.38 (3:48.33) 4:08.97
Average: 4:24.87

First solve 2 pops fourth solve new pb

4×4:
(3:12.72) 2:57.33 3:04.41 3:04.16 (2:52.50)
Average: 3:01.97

 

[DavidWoner]

Clock:
11.30 11.52 (12.40) 11.66 (8.86)

Average: 11.49

very bad average :'(

is this Koen Wermer, the clock single solve UWR holder? hmm now that theres someone for me to compete against I might start practicing clock again.

 

[fanwuq]

Wuqiong Fan

I think I'm almost back to shape in FMC.

B'RF'L'RBR'B'U'B'D2)U'R2U2FU'RF2R)
19 move skeleton that leaves 3 edges and 3 corners.

B'RF'L'RBR'B'L'URU'LUR'U2B'D2U'R2U2FU'RF2R
26 move leave 3 edge cycle.

Solution 1: B'RF'L'RBR'B'L'URU'LUR'U2B'D2L'S'U2SU2LU'R2U2FU'RF2R
34 moves.

Solution 2: B'RF'L'RU'F'UBU'FUR'B'U'B'D2L'S'U2SU2LU'R2U2FU'RF2R
33 HTM, 30 STM, 39 QTM

Interesting skeleton, OK insertions.

 

[pjk]

Pat Kelly
2x2: 6.79 6.55 (5.18) (6.90) 6.73 => Avg: 6.69
Could have been a good 1-2 seconds faster without my mistakes.
3x3: (16.58) (13.80) 13.82 16.44 15.38 => Avg: 15.21
Decent.
4x4: 1:06.95 1:24.43 1:09.13 (1:03.57) (1:32.04) => Avg: 1:13.50
Pretty bad considering how fast my redux was.

 

[Dene]

2x2x2: 25.47 11.61 10.33 14.44 DNF => 17.17

3x3x3: 19.56 14.65 18.80 20.97 19.34 => 19.23

3x3x3_OH: 41.21 40.16 33.61 30.47 31.05 => 34.94

3x3x3_feet: 1:34.78 1:31.15 1:36.34 1:37.88 1:37.83 => 1:36.32
Finally!

4x4x4: 1:23.63 1:27.50 1:08.25 1:15.36 1:18.66 => 1:19.22

5x5x5: 2:12.56 2:06.78 2:02.78 1:46.02 2:06.66 => 2:05.41

6x6x6: 4:41.02 4:46.59 5:41.46 4:23.65 5:23.47 => 4:57.03
Double parity on all of them (I think), and some bad pops...

7x7x7: 6:32.94 6:39.52 6:25.34 6:59.88 6:53.80 => 6:42.09
Bad centers on all of them. I think every time was 3:30+ for cetners...

megaminx: 5:33.31 5:29.91 4:04.34 5:51.44 4:02.11 => 5:02.52
Yay! Almost sub4 twice

 

[Escher]

Rowan Kinneavy

3x3 - (24.26), 22.11, 20.36, 18.67, (14.80) = 20.38
nice progression, disappointing avg.

3x3 OH - 35.14, 38.66, (42.58), (29.14), 39.26 = 37.6
very pleased. new PB full step single and avg.

2x2 - 6.67, (3.82), (7.70), 5.83, 6.89 = 6.46
ok. sub 7 aint bad.

FMC - Failure. couldnt get a solution under 45, so i gave up.

 

[Jude]

nice, now try to make it better by doing the A-perm as an insertion during your solve

Sorry for not understanding, but surely all 3 corners would have to be correctly oriented and on the same layer at one point for this to be possible? Otherwise you'd end up with a longer solution, due to setup moves? Unless you use commutors, but I am only comfortable with edge commutors, and I can't really see how that would help either.. :S

EDIT: Wait I see, you can change the A perm to an OLL which switches corners AND orientations, to make it shorter and hopefully get cancellations!

EDIT2: Hah! Excellent! Stick the OLL (a variation on B2 D B' U B D' B' U' B') in after 4 moves, and you get:
2x2x3 block: F' L' F' B (B D' B' U' B D B' U) U' L2 U B' R D' L2 F L'
Which cancels to F' L' F' B2 D' B' U' B D B' L2 U B' R D' L2 F L'

Giving a final solution 4 moves shorter than my original! Edited it into my original post.

 

[fanwuq]

nice, now try to make it better by doing the A-perm as an insertion during your solve

Sorry for not understanding, but surely all 3 corners would have to be correctly oriented and on the same layer at one point for this to be possible? Otherwise you'd end up with a longer solution, due to setup moves? Unless you use commutors, but I am only comfortable with edge commutors, and I can't really see how that would help either.. :S

EDIT: Wait I see, you can change the A perm to an OLL which switches corners AND orientations, to make it shorter and hopefully get cancellations!

EDIT2: Hah! Excellent! Stick the OLL (a variation on B2 D B' U B D' B' U' B') in after 4 moves, and you get:
2x2x3 block: F' L' F' B (B D' B' U' B D B' U) U' L2 U B' R D' L2 F L'
Which cancels to F' L' F' B2 D' B' U' B D B' L2 U B' R D' L2 F L'

Giving a final solution 4 moves shorter than my original! Edited it into my original post.

Nice job, Chukk! How come I didn't get such a great insertion? You canceled
3 moves! Very nice! also, you beat me by one move.
I'm still rather satisfied with my result. I came back from a long break on FMC's. Also this solution is special in that I just did a random short skeleton and did both corner and edge insertions.

 

[Dene]

All done. Odd week.

 

[DavidWoner]

awesome FMC:

33 moves: B' R U' F' B2 D2 L' U L R' F' D R D' R F' R2 U R F R' F' U' F U2 F2 U B U' F2 U B' U

2x2x2: B' R U' F' B2 D2 (6)

2x3x3: L' U L (9)

3x-cross: R' F' (11)

F2L: D R D' R F' R' F (18-2)
bold cancels 3 moves.
OLL: F' R' U R F R' F' U' F (27-3)

PLL: U2 F2 U B U' F2 U B' U (36-3) stupid me i should have used. F D' F U2 F' D F U2 F2 (mirrored inverse) which would cancel one more. and lead to 32

can these last 3 corners be inserted somewhere? I am terrible at insertions of cycles, and I don't really know how to use them.
EDIT: tim found a nice one for me.

Vault: Your 2x2x3 leads to: B' R U' F' B2 D2 L' . U L, . = [FD'F',U], which cancels two moves. So your solution is now 30 moves

the third move, an insertion of U', turned out beautifully. it was by far the best of many attempts to place one of the edges for F2L during the 2x2x2. This is my second best solve, best is a 29 with PLL skip.