Shaky Hands
Premium Member
Great. This is so obvious as well now you point it out. Thanks very much.
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Great. This is so obvious as well now you point it out. Thanks very much.
mark49152
Premium Member
Yeah I was wondering why you found that one hard
. It comes up quite often for me using AvG, since one of the tredges has a formed pair. The cases that are rare are the ones where neither has a formed pair.
newtonbase
Premium Member
It's not unusual amongst the top blinders to have a few set patterns that they keep to. It cuts right down on thinking time and makes execution comfortable.Now I find that I have settled into certain patterns using only a few different insertions for all cases. I'm sure this is far from move optimal and I could save a lot of moves by learning algs on a case to case basis. But on the other hand, when I haven't learned any algs, I cannot forget any either, and it's apparently quite easy to get back into blind after a few months break.
We're all young at heart. That's why we spend our free time playing with toys.
earth2dan
Veteran
I'd like to wish everyone here a very happy new year! I hope everyone had (or is still having) a great holiday season.
Congratulations on all the great PB's posted of late. And I'm a little jealous of all the new puzzles
I did get two new puzzles for Christmas. One is a triple joined 2x2 (which was quite fun to mix up and figure out), and the other is a V-Cube maze 3x3. The maze is a really difficult one, mainly because without the paper guide it came with that shows the solved state of the puzzle it's hard to tell if it's scrambled or not...
I got some really nice display cases to protect and show off some of my collection. They're actually just baseball bat displays, but they work perfectly for cubes
I'm going to do that thing I've never done and set some goals for 2017. I didn't make as much progress as I'd hoped in 2016, so maybe having some fixed goals for the year will keep me on track for 2017.
2017 Goals:
3x3x3: Sub 20 full colour neutral. Learn Full OLL.
4x4x4: 1:15 avg, sub 1:00 single.
5x5x5: 2:15 avg, sub 2:00 single.
6x6x6: 4:30 avg, sub 4:00 single.
7x7x7: 9:00 avg, sub 8:00 single.
Megaminx: ... Do more than 10 solves
3BLD: One success. Really, just one and I'll be happy!
I think each of those goals are individually achievable for me, but if I can get them all I'll be a very happy cuber.
Congratulations on all the great PB's posted of late. And I'm a little jealous of all the new puzzles
I did get two new puzzles for Christmas. One is a triple joined 2x2 (which was quite fun to mix up and figure out), and the other is a V-Cube maze 3x3. The maze is a really difficult one, mainly because without the paper guide it came with that shows the solved state of the puzzle it's hard to tell if it's scrambled or not...I got some really nice display cases to protect and show off some of my collection. They're actually just baseball bat displays, but they work perfectly for cubes
I'm going to do that thing I've never done and set some goals for 2017. I didn't make as much progress as I'd hoped in 2016, so maybe having some fixed goals for the year will keep me on track for 2017.
2017 Goals:
3x3x3: Sub 20 full colour neutral. Learn Full OLL.
4x4x4: 1:15 avg, sub 1:00 single.
5x5x5: 2:15 avg, sub 2:00 single.
6x6x6: 4:30 avg, sub 4:00 single.
7x7x7: 9:00 avg, sub 8:00 single.
Megaminx: ... Do more than 10 solves
3BLD: One success. Really, just one and I'll be happy!
I think each of those goals are individually achievable for me, but if I can get them all I'll be a very happy cuber.
pipkiksass
Veteran
We share SO many goals in common... I think if I ever stop procrastinating and learn full OLL, I'll buy a hat, eat said hat, and post a video on YouTube of me eating the hat while one-looking various OLLs.2017 Goals:
3x3x3: Sub 20 full colour neutral. Learn Full OLL.
4x4x4: 1:15 avg, sub 1:00 single.
5x5x5: 2:15 avg, sub 2:00 single.
6x6x6: 4:30 avg, sub 4:00 single.
7x7x7: 9:00 avg, sub 8:00 single.
Megaminx: ... Do more than 10 solves
3BLD: One success. Really, just one and I'll be happy!
I think each of those goals are individually achievable for me, but if I can get them all I'll be a very happy cuber.
Interestingly, we're in a similar position on 4x4, but you're a clear couple of minutes faster than me on 5x5! I've been reading, with interest, the Hoya vs. Reduction debate on this thread. I've never considered anything other than reduction, after looking into Yau5 and finding it ridiculously convoluted.
I don't have a 6x6. Yet. I'll be ordering one shortly, probably along with the QiYi 4x4. I'm kind of at the stage where I no longer feel that cubes hold me back, it's all me being crap from here on in!
So, anyway, I did a New Year's Ao100 3x3 as a benchmark, so I'll know where I stand and where my resolutions take me. Came out at 18.82, and I was disappointed with that, which I feel is a good thing. Still lots of silly mistakes, but it's at the stage where I can screw up a solve and still bring it in under 20 seconds on occasion. I recorded about half the session, but most of the video is my shoulder. I had a 12.75 (+2) where I irritatingly U3'd AUF instead of U2, but this is the best solve I have on cam so far:
Generated By csTimer on 2017-1-3
single: 14.24
Time List:
1. 14.23 U' R2 F2 U2 L2 U L2 F2 R2 B2 D F U' B R' B2 D' B L2 U F
pglewis
Veteran
And I'll be an instant subscriber! $.02 from someone who knows fewer OLL algs than you: pick one group at a time that you don't know and learn the whole group. That way when you recognize any in the group you're guaranteed you know it; no extra sub-divided recognition within the group, deciding. Then use it in place of whatever edge OLL it fixes whenever you 2-look so you get lots of extra practice in real solves. Recognition and recall still takes good ol' fashioned grinding for me, though, and low OLL frequency doesn't help.
Also: choose a hat with a high contrast.
I'm just waiting for that sub-12 Ao5. That day when your concentration level is really good, you're warmed up, and you hit a string where you keep the main mistakes away. And since that's going to happen I suppose we should be talking about your upcoming sub-10 Ao5...
Hey guys
Vacations came in handy : I had time to practice and I come around with a bunch of new PBs : remember that 18.45 s I thought was so low I would not acheive better in a long time ? Well I got 18.11 And those are still my ONLY two sub 20 singles. I just had a 25.05 Ao5 today and I broke the 28 sec barrier a few times for Ao10, with a 27.33 being the best so far.
Also, I wanted to thank @defhacks for pointing me to "multislotting theory". I spent a few hours reading about it but frankly it's above my paygrade for now : I still screw up on some basic PLLs at least 2% of the time and I'm not able to complete the cross on the bottom unless it's a 4-move cross. I guess those are my next targets for practice.
Vacations came in handy : I had time to practice and I come around with a bunch of new PBs : remember that 18.45 s I thought was so low I would not acheive better in a long time ? Well I got 18.11
And those are still my ONLY two sub 20 singles. I just had a 25.05 Ao5 today and I broke the 28 sec barrier a few times for Ao10, with a 27.33 being the best so far.Also, I wanted to thank @defhacks for pointing me to "multislotting theory". I spent a few hours reading about it but frankly it's above my paygrade for now : I still screw up on some basic PLLs at least 2% of the time and I'm not able to complete the cross on the bottom unless it's a 4-move cross. I guess those are my next targets for practice.
Shaky Hands
Premium Member
Hey guys
Vacations came in handy : I had time to practice and I come around with a bunch of new PBs : remember that 18.45 s I thought was so low I would not acheive better in a long time ? Well I got 18.11
Also, I wanted to thank @defhacks for pointing me to "multislotting theory". I spent a few hours reading about it but frankly it's above my paygrade for now : I still screw up on some basic PLLs at least 2% of the time and I'm not able to complete the cross on the bottom unless it's a 4-move cross. I guess those are my next targets for practice.
Good to hear you're getting some nice times there and you're bringing your averages down.
I'd definitely recommend working on solving the cross at the bottom as a priority. What you call a 2% failure rate, the optimist in me would call a 98% success rate (!) which is nothing to be too concerned about.
mark49152
Premium Member
Yeah I got interested in that too and spent a lot of time on analysing its potential. There are a few neat tricks but on the whole it's not worth it. Assuming the objective is to setup pair #2 while inserting pair #1, in most cases the multislotting solution is not significantly shorter than separating the steps, and recognition and poorer fingertricks would cancel out any minor move count benefit.
The most useful techniques are preserving pair #2 where it's already made, and using the pair #1 insert to split up a nasty case for pair #2, or to extract it from a slot if it's stuck.
h2f
Premium Member
About multi-slotting... Look at this scramble I got just a moment ago: R2 U2 B2 F' L2 B' D2 B' F2 R U F L2 B2 R' U F' U. First solve a day so I got only 11.59. When I redid it was 9.52 - fullstep in both cases with different f2ls...
mark49152
Premium Member
Where does multislotting come in? The obvious white cross gives a free x-cross, then the second pair is already set up. I don't see any obvious multislotting opportunity on the last two pairs...?
h2f
Premium Member
I meant preserving a pair when ready - it's just loose assiocation with what you are talking about.
Shaky Hands
Premium Member
I would have done a double X-cross here using x2 L B U' F rather than the single X-cross using x2 L B F.
Shaky Hands
Premium Member
mark49152
Premium Member
Very nice. I never look for x-crosses and didn't notice the first one until afterward.
Logiqx
Veteran
I had a nice easy x-cross on the train today. Three cross pieces were pre-solved and a formed pair was in the top layer.
R U' R' inserted the pair and popped the 4th cross piece into the U-layer.
U2 L2 inserted the final cross piece.
It was a nice start to an untimed solve.
pipkiksass
Veteran
Couple of days without timing 5x5, so I thought I'd try timing some solves.
Having only had one sub-4 before, of the 12 solves only 3 were sup-4. PB single - 3:21.22, Ao5 - 3:40.35, and Ao12 - 3:49.09.
Now I'm going to stop procrastinating and learn some OLLs!!!!
Having only had one sub-4 before, of the 12 solves only 3 were sup-4. PB single - 3:21.22, Ao5 - 3:40.35, and Ao12 - 3:49.09.
Now I'm going to stop procrastinating and learn some OLLs!!!!
Logiqx
Veteran
How many do you still need to learn?
pipkiksass
Veteran
I've ticked off another 3 today, which leaves 16. Of the ones I "know", there's still a few which are a little dodgy. I reckon, with renewed focus, I can finish the rest this month...
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earth2dan
Veteran
It didn't take you long to surpass me at 3x3 and catch up on 4x4. I'm sure with a little practice you'll be right up there with 5x5 as well. I use plain old reduction for 5x5, and I only know one edge alg (for that ugly last single edge parity case). I played with Hoya a bit and I can see it's appeal, but I'm still seeing gains with reduction and I'm not sure it would be worth it for me to switch.
So 2 out of 100 times you mess up a PLL? I wouldn't sweat that too much, it's probably better than me haha
. And yes, definitely switch to cross on bottom. The lookahead towards your first F2L pair is invaluable. I spent one evening a long time ago training myself to do cross on bottom and never looked back. A really good practice is to just scramble and solve the cross over and over again while taking as much inspection time as you need (forget 15 seconds, it's not a comp). Then when you're comfortable with that, scramble and solve the cross blind over and over again. I still do this once in a while when I find my crosses are getting lazy.
