Older cubers discussions

[mafergut]

Yes, that one, (it's beautiful, and) seems to be easy enough to solve (even more than a redi cube), not like those you've bought!

Yeah, these two dodecahedrons seem pretty intimidating. Started trying to come up with some commutators / piece cycles to solve them but still nothing. I also ordered a 2x2 mirror blocks (missing in my collection), a Dayan Tangram Extreme and the new Moyu Fisher Time Wheel.

 

[Jason Green]

I'm SO CLOSE to getting a sub 1 minute average on my 3x3.

Ao 100 : 1:23.33
Ao 50 : 1:17.69
Ao 12 : 1:09.91
A05 : 1:00.43
PB 51.46
This is with 335 timed solves. Probably a couple of thousand un-timed solves.

If I can cut a few seconds off of my cross and F2L that will do it. My 2 look OLL and 2 look PLL is pretty comfortable although I keep finding myself in places where I really wish I knew my PLL better. I'm noticing that I'm seeing a lot of J perms and N perms. I don't know those algs so I do a U perm to put it into another U perm which I can solve.

Holy Cow, it's so close. I keep getting 3 or 4 sub minute solves and then a disastrous 1:20+ solve.

Then again, I would have been seriously happy to have one of those "disastrous" 1:20 solves a month ago.

J perms are the best, you should learn them! N perms suck. You'll get sub 1 soon!

 

[newtonbase]

J perms are the best, you should learn them! N perms suck. You'll get sub 1 soon!

I love J perms too. And T's but they are the same thing.
N perms turn up a lot when doing 2 look PLL. They are easy to learn but horrible to execute.

 

[Lid]

Another ½ s shaved of on my a5 4x4: 56.56 ; times: 57.151, 58.440, (53.974), (1:02.999), 54.086

 

[pglewis]

Good day for me in Nashville, comp postmortem:

Pyraminx: I signed up but I care so little that I didn't practice any; I decided to forego it in favor of more practice on 3x3 and 3bld.

3bld: 10 min limit, got a 9:45 on my first attempt . After going 2/3 both Wed and Thu at the coffee shop I went 0/3 on Fri, didn't get a success Fri night while timing to see roughly where I was at, and not a single success practicing at the venue. It was very difficult, my concentration was seriously fighting me during memo, but peeking at the timer a couple times during memo reassured me I could still do it so I hung with it. I even had to lift the blindfold before making any turns to double check a couple edges one last time. I just DNS'ed the other two solves, I got what I was after and saw no reason to take up 15-20 more minutes of table time just to see if I could get one in the 6-8 range. I actually landed 6th on the merits of having a success with 11 people DNFing. Fifth place was a 4:13, so I wasn't likely to improve my position had I attempted.

3x3: 33.30, (27.06), 27.27, 38.59, (46.73) for a 33.05 average. First solve, the judge spaced-out on calling 8 seconds. I knew it seemed like a long time without an alert but I also know my sense of time gets weird during comp, so I continued looking. Then "Oh! twelveseconds!" and I had to arm the timer and take off a little unprepared. Big win for me that I broke my streak of a disastrous first 2 solves, got a couple 27s which is close to my home average, and PB'ed single and average keeping my streak of all orange intact. Small loss on that final solve (botched E perm) because I was within easy striking distance of a sub 30 average. Can't recall what went afoul on the :38.

 

[openseas]

Good day for me in Nashville, comp postmortem:
3bld: 10 min limit, got a 9:45 on my first attempt . After going 2/3 both Wed and Thu at the coffee shop I went 0/3 on Fri, didn't get a success Fri night while timing to see roughly where I was at, and not a single success practicing at the venue. It was very difficult, my concentration was seriously fighting me during memo, but peeking at the timer a couple times during memo reassured me I could still do it so I hung with it. I even had to lift the blindfold before making any turns to double check a couple edges one last time. I just DNS'ed the other two solves, I got what I was after and saw no reason to take up 15-20 more minutes of table time just to see if I could get one in the 6-8 range. I actually landed 6th on the merits of having a success with 11 people DNFing. Fifth place was a 4:13, so I wasn't likely to improve my position had I attempted.

Big congrats on your BLD success on your first ever official attempt - that is a rare & hard group to join (I failed but Jason got it)

 

[pglewis]

Big congrats on your BLD success on your first ever official attempt - that is a rare & hard group to join (I failed but Jason got it)

Thanks, my brain sure made me work for that one.

At the end I was already seriously questioning my memo-- felt like I might have left out an edge pair-- then before I pulled the blindfold up I heard the judge quietly go "OOOhhhh!". I figured that signaled I was off by a twist or two but I realize now it was because I barely ducked the time limit lol. Luckily my execution was in good shape, relatively speaking. Not fast by any stretch but much more than my memo.

 

[Jason Green]

Thanks, my brain sure made me work for that one.

At the end I was already seriously questioning my memo-- felt like I might have left out out an edge pair-- then before I pulled the blindfold up I heard the judge quietly go "OOOhhhh!". I figured that signaled I was off by a twist or two but I realize now it was because I barely ducked the time limit lol. Luckily my execution was in good shape, relatively speaking. Not fast by any stretch but much more than my memo.

It was really fun wasn't it!? I know with mine I tried to be pretty careful because I really wanted success the most. I didn't get tripped up on memo too bad that I remember, so I thought I had a good shot as I was finishing, but at the same time knew there was probably equal chance I missed something. I would describe it as feeling relief with a little bit of surprise maybe.

 

[pglewis]

It was really fun wasn't it!? I know with mine I tried to be pretty careful because I really wanted success the most. I didn't get tripped up on memo too bad that I remember, so I thought I had a good shot as I was finishing, but at the same time knew there was probably equal chance I missed something. I would describe it as feeling relief with a little bit of surprise maybe.

It sure was a big boost when I didn't see anything twisted, and it was responsible for me being a lot more relaxed during 3x3... but man was it a fight for me lol. I've already learned I'm very prone to brain hijack from previous comps and it took every technique I could think of to keep my head in it when my bld heat was getting close. Went outside and briskly did a couple laps up and down a small flight of steps to fight the adrenaline. Sang to myself and did whatever I could to put my mind on other stuff. Did some breathing and relaxation exercises in the competitor area while waiting. Even with all that it was tough but without it I would have gone down in flames.

I was coming up with odd edges and even corners not knowing which was the culprit and the frustration was making it harder to think, but seeing I was a bit over 4 mins in allowed me to relax and track it down. Turned out to be a bad corner trace, I think I'll do a few days spamming 2bld soon since that's been too chronic.

 

[mark49152]

@pglewis: Congrats and nice job on your first official 3BLD!

 

[pglewis]

Thanks a bunch, Mark. Looking forward to next year I'd like to work up to at least a 3 cube mbld official attempt and maybe learn 4bld. With sighted solves, I've discovered I'm not very interested in anything besides 3x3 right now but 4bld might renew my interest in higher order cubes. I really had no idea I'd have such an interest in blindfold solving when I took this up (or that I even could do it).

 

[newtonbase]

Good day for me in Nashville, comp postmortem:

Pyraminx: I signed up but I care so little that I didn't practice any; I decided to forego it in favor of more practice on 3x3 and 3bld.

3bld: 10 min limit, got a 9:45 on my first attempt . After going 2/3 both Wed and Thu at the coffee shop I went 0/3 on Fri, didn't get a success Fri night while timing to see roughly where I was at, and not a single success practicing at the venue. It was very difficult, my concentration was seriously fighting me during memo, but peeking at the timer a couple times during memo reassured me I could still do it so I hung with it. I even had to lift the blindfold before making any turns to double check a couple edges one last time. I just DNS'ed the other two solves, I got what I was after and saw no reason to take up 15-20 more minutes of table time just to see if I could get one in the 6-8 range. I actually landed 6th on the merits of having a success with 11 people DNFing. Fifth place was a 4:13, so I wasn't likely to improve my position had I attempted.

3x3: 33.30, (27.06), 27.27, 38.59, (46.73) for a 33.05 average. First solve, the judge spaced-out on calling 8 seconds. I knew it seemed like a long time without an alert but I also know my sense of time gets weird during comp, so I continued looking. Then "Oh! twelveseconds!" and I had to arm the timer and take off a little unprepared. Big win for me that I broke my streak of a disastrous first 2 solves, got a couple 27s which is close to my home average, and PB'ed single and average keeping my streak of all orange intact. Small loss on that final solve (botched E perm) because I was within easy striking distance of a sub 30 average. Can't recall what went afoul on the :38.

Welcome to the blind club. Very jealous of your success at the first attempt. Took me 4 comps. (I've typed that so many times my keyboard suggests it for me!)
Any success at your next comp should be a PB.

 

[pglewis]

... N perms turn up a lot when doing 2 look PLL. ...

Ah, I hadn't even thought of that, I'm sure the probabilities are calculated for 1 look PLL. Still, that was my mantra while waiting for my 3x3 solves yesterday: "no N-perms please!".

 

[newtonbase]

Ah, I hadn't even thought of that, I'm sure the probabilities are calculated for 1 look PLL. Still, that was my mantra while waiting for my 3x3 solves yesterday: "no N-perms please!".

I used to get a lot of H and Z perms with 2 look but hardly see them now. They were some of the first ones I learned after A and U.

 

[pglewis]

I used to get a lot of H and Z perms with 2 look but hardly see them now. They were some of the first ones I learned after A and U.

Now that you've jogged my memory, same. I quickly got annoyed with 2-look PLL and moved on from adding H and Z to learning full PLL before I was even under a minute.

 

[mark49152]

Thanks a bunch, Mark. Looking forward to next year I'd like to work up to at least a 3 cube mbld official attempt and maybe learn 4bld. With sighted solves, I've discovered I'm not very interested in anything besides 3x3 right now but 4bld might renew my interest in higher order cubes. I really had no idea I'd have such an interest in blindfold solving when I took this up (or that I even could do it).

I remember at my first comp talking with a few people and saying I wasn't interested in BLD. Later in the day I watched it and that was it, I was hooked. It was watching Lorenzo Vigano Poli complete his 15/15 Italian NR that made me want to go straight home and learn it.

Regarding 4BLD and MBLD, just go for it .

I'm curious about what 2-look PLL you guys are talking about. When I did 2-look it was corners first (T or Y perm) then edges. I certainly wouldn't have chosen N instead of Y perm for an opposite swap. Or did you do edges first?

 

[openseas]

I'm curious about what 2-look PLL you guys are talking about. When I did 2-look it was corners first (T or Y perm) then edges. I certainly wouldn't have chosen N instead of Y perm for an opposite swap. Or did you do edges first?

When it comes to 2look PLL, mostly, Edges (U / H / Z or Y / T) and corners (A & E) but sequence doesn't matter. I think I did corners first back then since I immediately jumped to A perm.

 

[openseas]

Thanks a bunch, Mark. Looking forward to next year I'd like to work up to at least a 3 cube mbld official attempt and maybe learn 4bld. With sighted solves, I've discovered I'm not very interested in anything besides 3x3 right now but 4bld might renew my interest in higher order cubes. I really had no idea I'd have such an interest in blindfold solving when I took this up (or that I even could do it).

MBLD is rather easy once you started 3BLD. I would recommend to go for at least 5 so that you can get US Nats qualification. (if you are interested in). On top of that, you're practicing Roman Rooms for MBLD which will help for big cube BLD eventually. 4BLD is roughly close to 3 x 3BLD in terms of memo. 4BLD has, 8 corner pieces, 24 midge pieces (~ 2x of 3BLD edges) and 24 centers (0 from 3BLD).

 

[pglewis]

I'm curious about what 2-look PLL you guys are talking about. When I did 2-look it was corners first (T or Y perm) then edges. I certainly wouldn't have chosen N instead of Y perm for an opposite swap. Or did you do edges first?

It seems like ages ago now and I moved to full PLL early so I had to go look up what I started with. I originally learned from here: https://solvethecube.com/speedcubing#step5

I started with the minimal there, I think corners first with Ab then edges with U perms so not technically a 2-look PLL system. It was fewer algs to learn early on but could turn into a 4 look PLL so I did pick up Y, H, and Z fairly quickly out of self defense and went straight for full PLL right after.

 

[mark49152]

When it comes to 2look PLL, mostly, Edges (U / H / Z or Y / T) and corners (A & E) but sequence doesn't matter. I think I did corners first back then since I immediately jumped to A perm.

Sequence does matter in that whatever pieces you solve second, those algs must not mess up the first piece type you solved. Meaning more permutations/algs, and that's why edges first is the only reason I can think of why someone would end up forced to use N perms in 2-look PLL. I've never heard of doing 2-look edges first though. It seems a much worse idea.

MBLD is rather easy once you started 3BLD. I would recommend to go for at least 5 so that you can get US Nats qualification. (if you are interested in). On top of that, you're practicing Roman Rooms for MBLD which will help for big cube BLD eventually. 4BLD is roughly close to 3 x 3BLD in terms of memo. 4BLD has, 8 corner pieces, 24 midge pieces (~ 2x of 3BLD edges) and 24 centers (0 from 3BLD).

I agree with shooting for more cubes. I got off to a slow start with MBLD because I rarely practised it, assuming my 3BLD improvements would just carry over. If I had practised it earlier I'd certainly have started competing at 6+ in order to use the full hour. Once you have a system that uses your memory reliably, it's not hard to add more cubes. The hard thing with adding cubes is fitting them into the time available, and that only really applies above 6 cubes. If you can do 10 min/cube for 2 or 3 you should have no problem using your full hour for 6 cubes. Just my 2 cents .

4BLD is a bit less memo than 3x 3BLD in practice. Grzegorz (@h2f) and myself have debated before but it's around 2.2-2.5x. The amount of extra memo is really a minor consideration in learning 4BLD though and it's a way more interesting and exciting challenge than a 3 cube MBLD. There's a lot more interesting stuff, like choosing an orientation (no fixed centres); learning a centres method; figuring out how to deal with equivalent centre pieces; parities of piece types are independent; there's an l slice as well as an r slice to complicate wings; etc. Technically 4BLD adds a lot of interest above 3BLD and makes a great challenge once you feel ready.