Fred's Thread

33.33 FMC mean! 34, 33, and 33. Solutions below. (Notation in parentheses means I'm using the inverse scramble.)

Scramble 1: R' U' F L2 D B2 D' B2 D B2 L2 F2 R D F' L2 B2 L2 B R D' F' R' U' F
(R' U L U R U' F' U' F U') //EO pseudo2x2x3 (R2 premove) I found (R' U L U R U) for a 2x2x2, but went for this modification. (11/11)
(B2 D' B2 L' D2 L B2) //F2L-1 (7/18)
(D' L' D L D') //Solve edges. 4 corners left using 2 commutators, but first (5/23)

Skeleton: R2 D @ L' D' L D B2 L' D2 L B2 D B2 U F' U F U R' U' # L' U' R
@ D' R U2 R' D R U2 R' //commutator insert with 3 cancellations (8-3/28)
# U L' U' R' U L U' R //more commutator insert with 2 cancellations (8-2/34)

Final: R' U2 R' D R U2 R' L' D' L D B2 L' D2 L B2 D B2 U F' U F U R' L' U' R' U L U' R L' U' R

Scramble 2: R' U' F L U' R2 F' L2 B R B R' D2 R2 F2 U2 F L2 F D2 L F2 R' U' F
(L U' L B F' D B U2 R2) //EO 2x2x2 kinda slow, but there's an amazing continuation (9/9)
(D F' D' F B' D' B') //F2L-1 I solved 2x2x3, and got an extra square for free! (7/16)
(L D2 L' D L D L') //Solve edges, 5-cycle of corners left which will be solved using 2 comms (7/23)

Skeleton: L D' L' D' L @ D2 L' B D B # F' D F D' R2 U2 B' D' F B' L' U L'
@ L' D' R' D L D' R D //comm1 (8-4/27)
# B' U F' U' B U F U' //comm2 (8-2/33)

Final: L D' L' D2 R' D L D' R D' L' B D U F' U' B U F U' F' D F D' R2 U2 B' D' F B' L' U L'

Scramble 3: R' U' F R B' R' U' D2 L D L2 U' F U F2 U2 D2 L2 B' U2 D2 R' U' F
(B' D' R' U2 L') //2x2x2 (5/5)
R F R F' U' F2 U2 //F2L-1 (7/12)
D R2 D' F' R F R' D R D' //Solve edges, 5-cycle of corners left so 2 comms (10/22)

Skeleton: R F R F' U' F2 @ U2 D R2 D' F' # R F R' D R D' L U2 R D B
@ F' D' F U' F' D F U //comm1 (8-2/28)
# F D' F' U' F D F' U //comm2 almost the same as comm1 lol (8-3/33)

Final: R F R F' U' F D' F U' F' D F U' D R2 D2 F' U' F D F' U R F R' D R D' L U2 R D B
 
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Second day in a row of competing was a bit much, and I go into some of the goofy stuff that resulted here. Good stuff was double PRs in 3x3 and 4x4 and finally making a second round! I hadn't competed in 4x4 in a long time so PRs were extremely likely, but I'm also happy with the times. 1:06.79 average and 1:02.35 single. In 3x3 first round, I got a PR average of 17.69 with solves of 23.03, 17.55, 16.56, 15.99, and 18.96. The third and fourth solves were both PR singles. In the second round, I improved the single a bit further with 15.95, but the average was bad. Though I did have a chuckle when I looked it up and saw I got a 19.99 average. Thanks @Caleb Valenzuela!
 
Just got a goofy OH PB of 22.05 (previous best was 27.31)
 Twizzle link 
 Setup 
U' L2 U2 B2 U R2 U L2 F2 U B2 U' L' U' F2 U2 R' U B2 U2 B'
 Moves 
y2 //inspection
F D' R' D' //EOLine + free square
R U' R' //First block
U L2 U' L U L U2 L U' L //Second block
L' U' L U' L' U2 L //OLL
U' R' U' R U D' R2 U R' U R U' R U' R2 U D //PLL
 
Another comp today. Didn't have much time to get hyped up for it considering how tiring last weekend was, but I had fun and got some good times. I was weirdly consistent in 3x3, counting six 18s across two rounds, with a 17, another 18, and two 19s as my non-counting times. No PRs, but pure sub-20 across two rounds is nice. I got a good PR average of 1:54.09 in 5x5. 6x6 was also great, with PR single (3:19.35) and mean (3:31.96) by a lot. I finally got a 7x7 mean (5:12.35), but I'm slightly disappointed I couldn't use my 4:38 from last week as part of a mean. Still, that's a very, very good mean for me. I also did megaminx and very slightly improved my PR single (1:57.07 to 1:56.88) while getting a respectable average of 2:02.76 after not practicing too much.
 
New PB single on the MGC Beta! 11.26

 Twizzle link 
 Setup 
L F' L2 D2 B2 U2 B' U2 L2 B2 F' U2 L' B U2 R2 U B L
 Moves 
x2 y //inspection
D' F R2 D2 F2 //cross
L' U2 L d L U L' //1st pair spotted during inspection
L' U2 L U2 R U R' //2nd pair
L' U L U R' U' R //3rd pair
U' L' U L U L' U' L //4th pair
R2 D R' U2 R D' R' U2 R' U //CLL and ELL skip
 
Just got home from another competition. It went very well for me---I double PRed in everything but skewb.

5x5 was first, and I started strong with 3 solves in the 1:40s including a 1:43.09 that just barely beat my old PR. Then I suddenly got alg amnesia and got a 2:09 followed by a 1:55. The venue was pretty bad acoustically, very echoey, so after this round I started wearing earplugs (intended to reduce noise to a comfortable level rather than blocking it out). I still managed a 1:50.69 average, but after that start I wish I could have gotten sub 1:50.

Next was square-1, and I just barely made the 1 minute cutoff with a 59.40 first solve. I got an average of 1:08.81 and on the last solve I got a 45.22. I did not practice this event, since I was focusing on clock and 3x3, so I'm really happy with this result.

3x3 first round came next, and I made the rookie mistake of warming up on a very different cube (Guhong) than the one I submitted (Beta). As a result, my cube felt really weird on my first solve and I got a 20. I followed it up with some really good solves including a 14.92 (PR single) and two 15s. Unfortunately, I also had a 19 where I somehow managed to solve an f2l pair wrong, resulting in a flipped edge. I caught it when I still had a free slot left, so I fixed it with keyhole. It still was a PR average by nearly a second: 16.72.

Next was skewb, and I continued my pattern of two bad solves and three good solves. Unfortunately my good solves weren't enough to overcome my bad solves this time around. I was excited to get an 8.53 with a Z perm (my PR is 8.18), but my next two solves were nervous and locky.

Clock was next and I managed to get three good 7 simul flip solves in, with a nice PR of 10.86. I also messed up twice, but not too terribly---both of those ended up being 18s. Last time I tried 7sf, my brain was fried from FMC and I got a 32.47 average, so I'm very pleased with how it went this time. My average was 14.81.

Finally, 3x3 second round. I somehow managed to get an even worse first solve (21) than in the first round, but after that I got FOUR good solves! Not as good as in the first round, but the consistency resulted in improving my PR average to 16.45.

After that, I was still staffing (or "competititon volunteering" as we're now called), and the finals for clock/squan/skewb were pretty busy because most of the staffers (or to be precise, delegates + organizers + volunteers) were competing. We finished off with head-to-head 3x3 finals, which was kind of weird because it's not a championship, but it's probably good practice for the upcoming championships that a lot of those finalists will compete in. I judged those finals, and it's cool as always to see speedy cubers up close.
 
Another competition today! Nxns did not go great, though I did get a PR 2x2 single. I missed the 2 minute cutoff for megaminx with two 2:01s. But I smashed my PRs in OH (42.69->37.88 average and 34.61->31.25 single) and square-1 (1:08.81->49.50 average and 45.22->37.71 single). I'm finally learning some square-1 algs. I try to come up with my own solution for a case, then look up an alg and compare.

This was a Cube Against Cancer competition, and there were two big boxes full of cubes to donate when I came in and added my contribution, which was pretty early. There's also a big order that hasn't arrived yet, so lots of cubes are getting donated to cancer patients!
 
In the previous weekly comp, I got my first ever sub-10 3x3 single, with 9.97! Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the reconstruction, but it started something like this:
 Twizzle link 
 Setup 
R2 F B U2 D' B' U' L' B' R U' R L U2 F2 R U2 L'
 Moves 
y' //inspection
F L' U' F2 y U' R U R' F //xcross
//or was it ...y R U R2' F2 R F' or y R U R2' F' R F2

and had a (last layer I think?) skip at the end.
 
Fred said:
In the previous weekly comp, I got my first ever sub-10 3x3 single, with 9.97! Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the reconstruction, but it started something like this:
 Twizzle link 
 Setup 
R2 F B U2 D' B' U' L' B' R U' R L U2 F2 R U2 L'
 Moves 
y' //inspection
F L' U' F2 y U' R U R' F //xcross
//or was it ...y R U R2' F2 R F' or y R U R2' F' R F2

and had a (last layer I think?) skip at the end.
Click to expand...
after that x-cross i see the orange-green-yellow corner and after that the orange-blue pair would turn into a free pair leaving you that red-blue pair to be solved into the back (whoops i yapped too much)
 
I somehow got a really good 2x2 average (3.92, just 0.10 off PB) in last week's weekly competition, which propelled me to top 100: 94th place! I have a WCA competition this weekend with mega, clock, 2x2, oh, and 3x3, and I've been practicing megaminx for it. There's also another competition in September with 3 rounds (2 for me, probably) of mega. I got a few PBs today: 1:28.21 single, 1:44.82 Ao5, and 1:48.54 Ao12.

I've also started using Anki to help me learn 3-style edges for 3BLD. I have 212 cards so far out of 440 total, so I'm about halfway there! I'm really liking Anki so far.
 
Competition report:

First up was 2x2 and then 3x3. I had a slow start to the competition, since I hadn't competed in a while. My first nine solves were pretty bad, but then I got a 3x3 PR single of 14.56. Not a lucky solve, just everything flowed well with less pausing than usual.

Next up was OH. I've finally learned how to do table abuse for M moves, so I've switched (back) to Roux and got a PR average of 36.30, with a non PR but still good single of 32.28. Previously I used ZZ with EOline with a bit of CFOP when I couldn't figure out the ZZ start in inspection. I liked ZZ because I could do it rotationless with no table abuse. I'm liking Roux because it's still rotationless, and only transitions to table abuse at the last step. I'm also getting more pieces solved and reducing blind spots more in my first step, so it feels like my blockbuilding is smoother and more consistent, or at least less inconsistent. I'm glad it went well, considering the short amount of time since I switched back to Roux.

After lunch was clock, which was silly and chaotic. I somehow managed a 26.00 average and a 10.26 PR single due to screwing up badly 3 times and finally getting it right on the last solve. Another competitor counted a 1:07.82 and got a PR single of 15.78, so I wasn't even the most chaotic. Also ones of the faster solvers DNFed and another one left early and withdrew from the next round, which let me advance as the last place to advance. Five more silly solves ensued for an average of 15.00. I clearly need to practice more clock, since I kept getting one step or other one tick off (7 simul flip). Another funny moment was me giving a +2 in clock... for overinspection.

Megaminx was the main event I practiced for, and it went really well. I smashed my PRs with a 1:45.35 average and 1:36.25 single. My previous PRs were around 2 minutes. I'd finally learned some algs so I wouldn't have to turn my puzzle upside down and do beginner method corner twisting, but that's exactly what I saw several competitors faster than me doing.

The second round of 3x3 was a bit better with two bad solves and three good solves, and the second round of 2x2 went a lot better. I got a couple of CLL cases I recently learned new algs for to avoid D moves, and I recognized and executed them pretty well. I got a PR average of 6.13, which is still a lot slower than I'd like, and I also +2ed out of a PR single. I judged one of the fastest 2x2 solvers at the comp, and his one-looks were really impressive. I'm slightly more inspired to practice 2x2 now, but blind and mega are still in the lead right now.
 
Just got a really nice 10.92 single in the weekly comp. Recon below:
 Twizzle link 
 Setup 
D' R D2 F' L' D2 B2 L B R2 B2 D R2 D R2 F2 U L2 D2
 Moves 
z2 y //inspection
U D L' R2' F R F //xcross
y' U' L U' L' //2nd pair
U L' U2 L R' U R //3rd pair
y' U R U' R' U R U R' //4th pair
U' F R U R' U' F' //CLL/OLLCP
R2' U' S R2 S' R2' U R2 //ELL/PLL
 
Tons of reviewing and drilling still to do, but I now theoretically know 3-style edges!
1755481174768.png
 
I'm working on some corner alg sets. I'm updating a few of my 3x3 CLL algs and improving the fingertricks on a couple others. There are a few algs where it's helpful to do the last move of a sledgehammer with the right thumb instead of left index to avoid overworks. I'm also starting to learn OH CMLL and 2x2 CLL. Here are some stats about how many of these algs are old vs new:

2x2 CLL
Same as 3x3 CLL: 20
Mirror or close variant of 3x3 CLL: 2
New alg: 18
Similar to old 3x3 CLL, but 3x3 CLL has new alg: 2

OH CMLL
Same as 3x3 CLL: 11
Mirror or close variant of 3x3 CLL: 12
New alg: 15
Similar to old 3x3 CLL, but 3x3 CLL has new alg: 4

Overall
Exact same all for all three sets: 7
Similar algs for all three sets: 12
2x2 and 3x3 similar but OH different: 4
2x2 and OH similar but 3x3 different: 2
3x3 and OH similar but 2x2 different: 5
Three completely different algs: 12
Most similar sets: S - 3 cases with exact same alg and 2 more with similar ones, AS - also 5 cases with the same or similar algs but more mirrors
Most different sets: O - both cases have three different algs, U - 4 cases with three different algs

So it's still a lot of new algs to learn, but my 3x3 CLL knowledge also helps a ton. The main problem comes when my 3x3 CLL alg has D moves, which are bad on both 2x2 and OH.
 
Another fun competition yesterday, this one featuring megaminx as the main event. I barely squeaked into the second round of mega by a quarter of a second, but then went on to double PR in the second round (and still place last). In the finals, I scrambled furiously. I'd already improved my mega PRs a lot in my previous competition due to mega grinding for this comp, so my PRs have gone from 1:56.88 -> 1:36.25 -> 1:34.73 for single and 2:00.79 -> 1:45.35 -> 1:40.39 for average.

In 2x2, I doubled PRed despite being shaky on my new algs. As usual for me, the PR single could have been much better. The scramble was U' R U' R2 U F2 U2 R U' R' U2, which has a two move layer into double sune, but I butchered the execution and got a 3.83. And my average was 6.12, beating my old PR by 0.01.

In 3x3, I had one very good solve, two more decent solves, and a bad and a worse solve, so no PRs. The first scramble (D' R2 F' B U D' B L U2 F R F2 D2 L2 D B2 U) had two built pairs that I tried to save, which led to a pausy FreeFOP f2l and my worst solve. I should have tried to only save one pair, or even just ignored both if I wasn't seeing a good start.

In 3OH I also double PRed (30.61 single and 35.54 average). I've been working on new algs and fingertricks, and it's still very much a work in progress, so I'm delighted to see results already, even if both PRs were by less than a second. I thought most of the scrambles were pretty bad, too.

I barely practiced skewb or squan before this competition. Skewb was the first event of the day, and my turning was pretty bad. Square-1 had a one minute cutoff, which I was scared I'd miss. I started with a 1:05.50 due to forgetting some EO algs, but I made it on the second solve with a 54.02. On the fourth solve, I got a PR single (34.05, down from 37.71) due to knowing the PBL case, which is really lucky because I usually don't even solve EP in one look. It was a J perm and an N perm, and I knew I'd get a skip after solving the corners if I just adjusted the offset to preserve the blocks.
 
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