Older cubers discussions

[Mike Hughey]

I doubt it's possible to get much older than this for "old M2" (considering it's the first place it was ever described):
http://www.stefan-pochmann.info/spocc/blindsolving/M2R2/

The way that worked is that he didn't bother with the extra algorithms - instead he just had flipped edges when he was done. Stefan explains how it works there.

 

[pglewis]

@SpartanSailor: I've never heard of "old/new" M2 either. Since you've gone this far with OP edges I'd just stick to that without worrying about M2 until after comp. Focus on the weakest parts and see how much time cushion you can find for confidence. If you do get one you might actually place fairly well... all the competitive blinders would rather take 3 DNFs than ever waste an official attempt on a "safety solve"

After comp I would take a week or so and just switch to M2, success or no. Granted, I've never actually done OP edges but the just the thought of all those moves for a buffer swap

 

[SpartanSailor]

@SpartanSailor: I've never heard of "old/new" M2 either. Since you've gone this far with OP edges I'd just stick to that without worrying about M2 until after comp. Focus on the weakest parts and see how much time cushion you can find for confidence. If you do get one you might actually place fairly well... all the competitive blinders would rather take 3 DNFs than ever waste an official attempt on a "safety solve"

After comp I would take a week or so and just switch to M2, success or no. Granted, I've never actually done OP edges but the just the thought of all those moves for a buffer swap

I'm all about the safety solve! The time limit is 10:00. I'll be pleased if I get a success in 9:59.

 

[pglewis]

I'm all about the safety solve! The time limit is 10:00. I'll be pleased if I get a success in 9:59.

That was definitely me. I came up with odd/even and had to retrace to find where it went afoul. When I stopped the timer I heard my judge quietly say "Awwwwww..." and I figure I messed up the last couple corners or something. I took off the blindfold and was stunned to see it solved, then I looked at the timer and realized the judge's reaction was because I had less than 15 seconds left. Good enough for 6th of 17

 

[openseas]

My guess is 1) either old means the original M2/R2 (so new means just M2/OP) or 2) new M2 means the advanced M2.

 

[Selkie]

So, been mainly practicing memo in the last few days whilst we have been away seeing family. I still remember a memo from 4 days ago, not sure if that is a good thing or not .. SF RA QD IT EU XU VO JP / CO UP CB HQ DF.

My son has been progressing really well and really proud of his determination and progress. We filmed one of his solves an hour ago...

Not bad for starting to learn just over a week ago

 

[Jason Green]

So, been mainly practicing memo in the last few days whilst we have been away seeing family. I still remember a memo from 4 days ago, not sure if that is a good thing or not .. SF RA QD IT EU XU VO JP / CO UP CB HQ DF.

My son has been progressing really well and really proud of his determination and progress. We filmed one of his solves an hour ago...

Not bad for starting to learn just over a week ago

Nice job!

 

[Selkie]

Thanks @Jason Green , I'm sure your boys will want to start solving at some stage.

@pglewis - In my opinion you have missed out one great addition to the LL arsenal, Winter Variation. I think it can have as much impact on 3x3 as any other sub stage. Work on F2L-1 can be very valuable and whilst you could argue learning all of them may not be worth it, I think even influencing better OLL cases is valuable. Feliks has a good PDF https://www.cubeskills.com/tutorials/wv-algorithms

 

[SpartanSailor]

Thanks @Jason Green , I'm sure your boys will want to start solving at some stage.

@pglewis - In my opinion you have missed out one great addition to the LL arsenal, Winter Variation. I think it can have as much impact on 3x3 as any other sub stage. Work on F2L-1 can be very valuable and whilst you could argue learning all of them may not be worth it, I think even influencing better OLL cases is valuable. Feliks has a good PDF https://www.cubeskills.com/tutorials/wv-algorithms

Do you really think WV is really worth it? I've looked at it before, but I don't think I was ready... now, I'm still trying to really dial in my consistency with what I do have in my arsenal. Case recognition is certainly something I need to continue to work on, I'm afraid adding all those additional cases prior to OLL would severely impact my speed and fluidity.

 

[Jason Green]

Do you really think WV is really worth it? I've looked at it before, but I don't think I was ready... now, I'm still trying to really dial in my consistency with what I do have in my arsenal. Case recognition is certainly something I need to continue to work on, I'm afraid adding all those additional cases prior to OLL would severely impact my speed and fluidity.

In my opinion I would finish OLL first for sure. Of course I did that long ago and have not added much more except certain F2L improvements.

 

[SpartanSailor]

In my opinion I would finish OLL first for sure. Of course I did that long ago and have not added much more except certain F2L improvements.

I have been working on my look ahead during F2L. Sometimes, I can really tell I'm improving. Then others... well, not so much. I haven't focused on any specific cases for F2L, instead I still generally use intuitive F2L. But I am overall improving my ability to anticipate where pieces are or to notice pieces when solving a different F2L pair which helps me move without pausing from one pair to the next. I think I have some room to continue to refine/improve before adding any new alg sets, but I am always tempted whenever I think something would be helpful.

All that said... my real focus for the next few weeks is going to be 3BLD.

 

[openseas]

Today, 11 min 4BLD DNF by one corner cycle off. One step closer to sub 10min 4BLD.

Last Sunday, also missed 4BLD podium by missing one corner unsetup move which made following 3 corner targets off (@Jason Green watched the whole misery...)
I also missed 5BLD last Sunday - one slice off during X-center which caused all follow-up layer targets off. Everything else was good. (again, Jason watched this whole thing....)

But I see the progress in big BLD in terms of times and center/wing accuracy.

Switched memo/exe order: Corner / Midges (for 5BLD) / Wing / X-Center / T-Center (for 5BLD) and execution opposite sequence. Until last week, whatever the reason, I started from centers which took so long time that made me exhausted / impacted the rest of tracing/memo. I don't know why I did that - probably wanted to follow room method sequence.
Anyway, after switching to corner first big BLD, memo/trace is getting faster and easier. Looks like easier thing getting done makes me comfortable.

 

[pglewis]

@Selkie: Yeah, WV is probably the top item for last slot twiddling. I'm still only mid 20s at best overall but I can see sub 20 from here and I'm coasting down from the learning curve while recog improves weekly. Your son has a crisp, controlled turning style while not out-turning too much... super impressive for how little time he's been at it. What's the over/under on number of months before he overtakes the old man?

@SpartanSailor: Full OLL or WV, either, are going to slow you down initially. You're a little faster than I am so obviously your 2-look OLL recognition is fairly well developed and I personally found that the hardest part to break. But I agree with Jason that full OLL would be the higher priority. Now that I have it down I can clearly see the benefits of influencing better OLL cases during F2L. A number of my algs first solve to the 6-move T and then finish with that, thus it seems like it would be ideal to influence a skip, 6-move T/P, and then probably S/AS in that order, where possible. If I do a fast insert to finish F2L a little quicker it doesn't help the overall solve if my first move in OLL is to take that last pair right back out and solve it a different way. The catch 22 I'm trying to fight is: yeah, it's probably not much payoff until I'm ~15 or better, but if I wait until I'm around ~15 then I'll be reluctant to slow myself down to learn it. Maybe this way it'll be partially developed by the time it's actually useful.

 

[newtonbase]

Today, 11 min 4BLD DNF by one corner cycle off. One step closer to sub 10min 4BLD.

Last Sunday, also missed 4BLD podium by missing one corner unsetup move which made following 3 corner targets off (@Jason Green watched the whole misery...)
I also missed 5BLD last Sunday - one slice off during X-center which caused all follow-up layer targets off. Everything else was good. (again, Jason watched this whole thing....)

But I see the progress in big BLD in terms of times and center/wing accuracy.

Switched memo/exe order: Corner / Midges (for 5BLD) / Wing / X-Center / T-Center (for 5BLD) and execution opposite sequence. Until last week, whatever the reason, I started from centers which took so long time that made me exhausted / impacted the rest of tracing/memo. I don't know why I did that - probably wanted to follow room method sequence.
Anyway, after switching to corner first big BLD, memo/trace is getting faster and easier. Looks like easier thing getting done makes me comfortable.

I do pretty much the same order but with the centres the other way..i like it as it lets me switch midges and wings to avoid parity. Also, as centre tracing is easy I can go audio on one type. Did my 3rd attempt today and it looked a bit of a mess but i think there were only 2 execution errors at most. Looking forward to attempt number 4 at Manchester.

 

[Shaky Hands]

I've been doing a lot of Megaminx practice lately, which is somewhat unexpected as at the previous comp I went to I didn't even bother entering the event.

5th Feb - Ao100: 3:12.57
8th Feb - Ao100: 2:51.96
10th Feb - Ao100: 2:45.56
12th Feb - Ao100: 2:39.88
15th Feb - Ao100: 2:32.52

Current PB single is 2:03.40.

Really happy with the progress I've been making with this puzzle. I think I should be able to get an official average in 2018.

 

[openseas]

11min Success! (4BLD)

11:47.81 [6:17.64] B2 Fw2 F2 R' B2 D' U' R2 U2 L D2 L' Uw' D2 Fw2 F' U D F' U' D B2 Rw L' Fw Uw2 D B' Uw2 L2 Uw2 D2 U2 F' U Fw' D F2 L2 Rw2

This scramble was way too easy for center

 

[kbrune]

Hey guys! Long time I haven't been on here. Hope everyone's doing well.

I've been getting back into BLD lately since im finally registered in a comp that has both 3BLD and Multi. This will be my first Multi result so I've been trying to get some practice in.

I remember reading about @mark49152 using Z in letter pairs to indicate parity. I think this will work well for me in multi.
I'm missing quite a few so I was hoping to get some suggestions from my speedsolving friends.

Here are the ones Im looking for: I'm missing quite a bit! I may use X for a few to fill in the blanks if necessary.
CZ
DZ
EZ
GZ
HZ
IZ
NZ
OZ (Wiz of Oz) edit
PZ
RZ
SZ
TZ
VZ
WZ (Gandalf) edit

 

[openseas]

CZ
DZ
EZ
GZ
HZ
IZ
NZ
OZ (Wiz of Oz) edit
PZ
RZ
SZ
TZ
VZ
WZ (Gandalf) edit

CZ - Czech
DZ - DMZ
EZ - EZ Pass (toll pass)
HZ - Herz
IZ - IZZE (my kids' favorite drink - you can search images then easy to remember. If you actually drink, will not forget)
NZ - New Zealand
OZ - yes, Wizard of Oz
PZ - Pizza
RZ - Ritz (crackers)
SZ - Seizure
TZ - Tarzan
VZ - Vizio
WZ - Wizard (any specific guy in the Harry Porter will work)

 

[Mike Hughey]

Hey guys! Long time I haven't been on here. Hope everyone's doing well.

I've been getting back into BLD lately since im finally registered in a comp that has both 3BLD and Multi. This will be my first Multi result so I've been trying to get some practice in.

I remember reading about @mark49152 using Z in letter pairs to indicate parity. I think this will work well for me in multi.
I'm missing quite a few so I was hoping to get some suggestions from my speedsolving friends.

Here are the ones Im looking for: I'm missing quite a bit! I may use X for a few to fill in the blanks if necessary.
CZ
DZ
EZ
GZ
HZ
IZ
NZ
OZ
PZ
RZ
SZ
TZ
VZ
WZ

I'm curious about this using Z for parity thing? Is this just to convert a single letter into a letter pair image? If so, I just have single letter images to go with all my 2-letter images; I used to use those for buffer pieces, although now I only use them for leftover pieces when I have an odd number.

But if you want to come up with words for Z, for some you can use "s" words that have the "z" sound, so that might help.

Here's what I have used for these, back when I did megaminx BLD and needed them:
CZ - Casio keyboard (not really a Z sound, but it's what I thought of when I saw the letter combination)
DZ - daze (usually work this in as an adjective somehow)
EZ - easy rider (motorcycle rider)
GZ - gauze
HZ - haze
IZ - izod (alligator shirt)
NZ - nozzle
OZ - ounce (little metal scale weight)
PZ - Pez
RZ - rez (TRON deresolution)
SZ - sizzle (steak cooking)
TZ - Tasmanian devil (Taz from Bugs Bunny cartoons)
VZ - vizier (Jafar from Aladdin)
WZ - wizard

 

[openseas]

NZ - nozzle
NZ - nozzle
OZ - ounce (little metal scale weight)
SZ - sizzle (steak cooking)

Oh, I like yours.