Cross + First C/E Pair Blindfolded Challenge

dChan

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This is something I came up with while looking through Lucas's speedblindsolving guide this morning. It is probably not original but little to no sites mentioned this kind of practice exercise for speedsolving.

As everyone knows, the typical inspection before a solve involves the solver looking for the the pieces of the cross and planning out how to solve the cross efficiently and quickly. More advanced cubers try, not only to plan out their cross solve, but to predict where their first c/e pair will be and/or how to solve that c/e pair. I decided to try this out but I wanted to be able to do it blindfolded just like I can do my cross blindfolded(plus preservation, but usually not a whole c/e pair). I found out it was a lot tougher than doing cross blindfolded because you have to take into account the fastest way to solve your cross AND how those moves will affect the location of your first c/e pair. With a little bit of practice I can memorize the positions in under 20 seconds and execute the actual solve of the cross and first c/e pair in 4-14 seconds(but usually under 10 seconds) blindfolded.

This is a great practice exercise, in my opinion, because it will allow you to jump into your second pair very quickly. Now remember, I am NOT speaking about extended cross here. I am talking about doing the cross and c/e pair as you would normally do by themself.

Okay, so my challenege is that I want to see who has the fastest memorization and execution. You can time your memorization on a stopwatch and your execution on JNetCube(so you can import the scrambles below) or on your stackmat timer. Remember to time your memorization and execution seperately for each scramble.

F U' B2 U' D' L2 B D F' B2 U D2 F2 L' B' F2 D2 L R2 U2 D' R2 F R' L
L R' F2 U D2 B' F' L' F2 L' U R U2 B2 L F2 U2 F' U2 L D2 B2 U2 R2 U2
U2 R2 L' U' L D L2 R F2 R2 D' L F' U F' D2 F B L' D L U2 F2 D R2
L' B2 L D2 U' B D2 L' B2 F2 L2 B F' U2 D2 B' D2 U2 R' L F' R2 B2 U2 F
L F' B2 U' D2 F' D2 B2 U2 R2 F' B' R' D' R B U2 B2 U2 R2 B F' U L R
U B' D' B' L' D F' R D' B' F2 D2 B' U' R2 L' F2 L R2 F' B2 L2 F B2 R
D B' U B2 F U' R L F U R2 D2 U' R2 U' F' D R2 U R' L F D2 L' R
U L' B R D' B' F2 U2 D F D2 U' F2 L B' F2 L D' B' L2 F2 R2 U2 D2 B'
B2 D2 F D2 R' B D F2 L R B F' L2 F R L B U B L D2 R' L2 B L2
B R2 B U2 L2 F' L2 B L' U' D B' D2 L U L2 D F' D' R' F2 U2 D L2 B2
L R2 B2 L U' F' L2 B F R2 L' U2 D' B2 L' D2 R2 U2 R2 D' R' D2 U' B' D'
R' B' R2 D' U' F' D2 U R B L2 R B' U2 L' F' B R' L B2 F2 U' R2 U F2

I expect Lucas will probably be able to do this with no problem.
 
@Lofty: I agree that this is great practice for speedsolving. I am hoping to eventually be able to memorize in under 15 seconds and execute in 4 seconds. I am getting close but I think the times really depend heavily on the solves.

@joey: 3 seconds!
 
I'll say I DNF'ed them all, except one with 16 memo where the timer didn't start for exec. Too tired and unprepared right now.

What!? Are you sure you are the guy who once held UWRs for the memo and execution of a speed BLD solve? lol, I thought you would probably beat everyone.

I'm going to submit my times tommorrow.


EDIT: Keyword: ONCE.
 
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#1, 4.38 , 3.14
#2, 7.16, 3.72
#3, 8.65, 3.58
#4, 9s, DNF

I don't really know exactly how the pairs will turn out, I just "feel" it as I do the cross, much like when I do the F2L.
 
Harris: Try to see how many looks you need to solve F2L. I need on average just three short glances, but sub 3 is hard.
Aswell as you I don't think to much, just go with what feels right.
 
I don't think this is always the fastest way. If you choose to do a pair, then maybe there are some other pairs that is more faster to execute.... (less moves).
 
as you see everyone has been giving two times. One is memorization/inspection the other is execution. While there may be another pair with 1-3 less moves the fact that you have already seen this pair and can execute it without looking makes it faster.
 
Lofty got my point exactly. The whole reason for this is that you have planned out half of your F2L(the first 6 pieces -there are 12 pieces in the F2L total) and already know how it will turn out allowing you to let your fingers keep moving and let you look around more for the next pair so you are prepared to jump right into it.

@Harris: Wow, that is pretty amazing. I assume you just spot where the cross and c/e pair peices are and go right into it otherwise you probably would not have such great inspection times.
 
My results:

#1 23.72, DNF
#2 20.44, DNF
#3 7.63, DNF
#4 12.72, 17.36
#5 13.28, DNF
#6 11.69, DNF
#7 12.07, DNF
#8 13.34, DNF
#9 10.06, 6.17
#10 16.44, 15.44
#11 18.71, DNF
#12 15.19, DNF

Only 3 success with a sad best of 10.06 seconds for inspection/memorization and 6.17 seconds to execute. At first I was trying to memorize the whole process of the solve a bit which is why the first two scrambles took me long then I tried to do it the way Harris described how he does it which you can see dropped my inspection time considerably adn actually got me a success(although the execution took longer than usual). Towards the end, though, I was getting desperate for some more successes which is why the memorization time went up a bit.

I like the way Harris does this and I actually got some pretty accurate solves this way only placing a cross piece in the wrong way(making it mis-oriented) or pairing things up wrong. This really makes me think more than usual(usually I just spot the cross pieces and I 'know' how they will go in without having to go over 8 moves and I don't even need to really think much) . I am going to keep practicing this as it is a good practice exercise.

I want to see some more times people! Let's see if there is anyone who can beat Harris, lol.
 
Oh.. Sorry. But how are you supposed to see the pair that uses 1-3 moves? Do you look at all the four pairs?
 
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I never did this before but I always wanted to do it, some nice results therefore, I am confident about it for starting this

#1: 15.20 // 4.83
#2: 8.36 // 9.37 -_- had to think hard about the position of the last 2 cross pieces and traced them again in my mind otherwise easy one
#3: 16.73 // DNF
#4: 12.82 // DNF
#5: 19.54 // DNF (6.4 and got a simpel r’ U r left for succeed)
#6: 19.94 /// 8.76 -_- I want to go faster but I trace them a lot in my head, try to see the movements more now)
#7: 13.27 // 6.12
#8: 19.34 // DNF
#9: 24.91 // 6.13
#10: 16.92 // 4.81
#11: couldn’t find anything nice here =(
#12: 23.28 // 5.10
 
Harris: When you inspect what do you see? in what sequence? Do you find the cross pieces and then one c/e pair (the first you see?) and just follow those mentally ("feel") and solve them after the cross?
 
Oh.. Sorry. But how are you supposed to see the pair that uses 1-3 moves? Do you look at all the four pairs?

It is probably impossible to tell during the inspection, which pair will only require 3-4 moves to solve after you solve the cross. I think, that during inspection, it is best to look for a corner and an edge that are relatively close to each other that way it is easier to track their movements in your head as you solve the cross. Remer, the point here is not to reduce move count but to be able to completely ignored the cross and first pair while solving so that you can look ahead better. That is why we are doing this blindfolded.

@Cerberus: Very nice. It looks like you are the only one who submitted times for all the scrambles(besides me of course). You got 7 out of 12 of them correct and apprently almost 8. I think we can count anything that only requires a X2 or X/X'(where X is the particular face that needs to be adjusted) as a success.

I too would like to know more about how you do this Harris.
 
What about you meet case 1 at Dan Harris page? That one is taking too long time... But you could skip that one if you do a another case, and splitting this one...
 
Just look for something that you feel will be easy to solve if you are worried about moves. Spot all the cross pieces first then try and look for a corner-edge piece that you think you can easily follow as you are executing your cross. If you know that a certain pair will end up as a hard case to do when you finish cross then look for anothe rpair during inspection. During this whole thing you are blindfolded so it really does not matter how many moves something takes as long as you can do it fast or properly.

Again the point of this exercise is to help you prepare for the second pair not reduce your move count but to perhaps lower your F2L solving time.
 
What I normally do for speedsolves is to check the cross and look if there is any corner that stays in place or just goes one position further and when that is a corner for f2l I just have to trace one edge which is pretty simple, I can care about orientation during execution.
For blindfold I try to pair them up faster and prevent them from getting destroyed afterwards, but I want to trace them during regular cross now, because that's what I have to do in a real solve.
 
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