Older cubers discussions

[newtonbase]

Still have 4x4 and 5x5 to go.... but....

3x3 was an absolute disaster. But 3BLD went well... 4:11 official solve.

Pushed my memo a little for the second attempt and ended with a DNF. HOWEVER, I had just enuff time to make a legit (pushed memo) 3rd attempt. Had some execution mistakes and tried to fix them during the solve. Would have been a DNF anyway, but I also hit my max cumulative time and so ran out of time.

Doesn’t matter what happens with 4x4 and 5x5 at this point. I came here to get a sub-5 BLD and that was my primary focus. I’m thrilled with my 4:11.

Congratulations. That's a great time. Sub 4 and MBLD next comp?

I'm back home after a brief visit to the Peterborough Open. I didn't get to compete in MBLD but saw some top quality attempts with 15 points missing podium. Well done to @mark49152 for getting 15/20 sub hour and to @Shaky Hands for his PB.

My new MBLD goal is to get under the hour for 12 at WSM at the end of the year but focus has to shift a bit towards 3-5 blind for the UKs.

 

[SpartanSailor]

That’s the goal! Sub-4 next time.

I know the delegate and coordinators here decently well. They have MBLD tomorrow... if they let me add today, I’ll give 2 a shot, but submit 3 cubes and make an official attempt at 3 cubes. Then, I’ll have 30 minutes to get at least 2 of them down solid with plenty of memo review.

 

[newtonbase]

That’s the goal! Sub-4 next time.

I know the delegate and coordinators here decently well. They have MBLD tomorrow... if they let me add today, I’ll give 2 a shot, but submit 3 cubes and make an official attempt at 3 cubes. Then, I’ll have 30 minutes to get at least 2 of them down solid with plenty of memo review.

If you submit 4 you'll have ten minutes extra for the 2 you do attempt 2/4 is an official success.

 

[h2f]

3BLD went well... 4:11 official solve.

Awsome. Congrats!

 

[pglewis]

Because because I am learning F2L his 2:38 is faster than me - and in fact on par with my previous fastest time! I sense trouble ahead :-D

All other things being equal: younger folks have faster reflexes. I think the gray beards can turn nearly as fast with practice... I don't think the physical aspect is demanding enough to be a big issue unless there is an actual physical problem (and we've had time to develop those). But just like with video games, they can react quite a bit faster and probably progress faster on average. They're quickly invading blindfold at a younger age now too but I love to see guys like Mark keeping them on their toes

I would forget about the timer for at least a few weeks while picking up new things. I tackled full OLL last fall and it probably took me three months before my longer averages were back to what they were with 2-look OLL. If you keep experimenting with F2L, identifing the things that slow you the most and addressing them in priority, you will be faster than when you went in.

3x3 was an absolute disaster. But 3BLD went well... 4:11 official solve.

Nicely done under comp pressure, that'll put a smile on your face for the drive home! Seeing some of your recent splits you execute noticeably faster than I, even before switching to M2. I think I could use a week of sighted execution practice.

 

[SpartanSailor]

Nicely done under comp pressure, that'll put a smile on your face for the drive home! Seeing some of your recent splits you execute noticeably faster than I, even before switching to M2. I think I could use a week of sighted execution practice.

I was definitely pleased and very glad it happened on my first attempt. Took ALL the pressure off the next two attempts. I was able to really have fun and enjoy the next two solves without piling on self-imposed pressure. I definitely have a HUGE opportunity for improvement with memo time. So, I’m pretty excited.

As it turned out, I nailed my 4x4 first solve too for an official competition PB of 1:14.74.... narrowly making the cutoff of 1:15. Followed up with a 1:12 for my second solve. Walking away with a new PB single and PB ao5 today too in 4x4.

So far, 3x3 was my least concerned event coming into the day. So even though it was a mess, I’m not upset. The 3BLD success was my main goal... actually making the 4x4 cutoff was a VERY pleasant bonus on the day.

 

[Old Tom]

Still have 4x4 and 5x5 to go.... but....

3x3 was an absolute disaster. But 3BLD went well... 4:11 official solve.

Pushed my memo a little for the second attempt and ended with a DNF. HOWEVER, I had just enuff time to make a legit (pushed memo) 3rd attempt. Had some execution mistakes and tried to fix them during the solve. Would have been a DNF anyway, but I also hit my max cumulative time and so ran out of time.

Doesn’t matter what happens with 4x4 and 5x5 at this point. I came here to get a sub-5 BLD and that was my primary focus. I’m thrilled with my 4:11.

Ha! You barely made your 5:00 3BLD goal, only 0:49 to spare. Whew! Congrats.

 

[mark49152]

3BLD went well... 4:11 official solve.

Nice job @SpartanSailor! Congrats.

After my first official 3BLD success, I was feeling confident and happy and was persuaded by a friend to enter MBLD. I had never done it before, but he gave me some basic advice and I got a 2/2 in about 16 minutes. I was glad I let myself be persuaded . Go for it tomorrow! Good luck!

Nice to catch up with @newtonbase, @Shaky Hands and the UK contingent today. 15/20 was a little disappointing but at least a step forward from Guildford. I forgot corners on the first cube, fumbled one, and I'm not sure about the others but I'm pretty sure I mixed up some memo between cubes. I'll know after watching the video back. Generally it felt OK, but during memo of the last 4-block when time was getting tight and others were starting execution, I really started to feel the pressure and I think that threw my concentration a bit. Next attempt at Euros in 3 weeks...

 

[SpartanSailor]

Ha! You barely made your 5:00 3BLD goal, only 0:49 to spare. Whew! Congrats.

Yeah... barely made it;-)

Although, making the 1:15 cutoff for 4x4 with a 1:14.74... was cutting it close!

 

[chtiger]

A mixed bag of results at comp. Had 5 PBs, which was more than I hoped for, but didn't hit any of my specific targets. Highlights were an 11:14 4BLD which was lucky enough to get 1st place, and a 7.13 clock single.
http://cubecomps.com/live.php?cid=3308&compid=18

Spoiler: a few more details

pyra: PB single and avg in the first round. Decent comp times for me.

3x3: First round was typical comp sloppy turning slow times, except for the last solve which was almost PB. Second round was good and would've easily been sub 20 if I hadn't done the wrong PLL and DNFed what was an 18.33. Still ended up PB avg of 20.25

3BLD: First attempt was heading for around 1:50, but then got confused with my edges. Second was a fairly slow success of 2:46. Third, I twisted a corner the wrong way, but wasn't mush faster anyway, I think 2:33

4BLD: Had the 11:14 on my first. Was happy with that, it's a good comp time for me. Couldn't get focused during second memo and was struggling a bit, so just quit and called it a day on BLD.

clock: good thing I had the PB single because the rest was a disaster. 5 big screw-ups and 2 medium screw-ups.

2x2: see first round of 3x3.

 

[40yearstosolve]

Anyone got any tips for the last slot in F2L?

I seem to either stare blindly, keep trying a multitude of the three cases or mess he while solve up.

I am finding that on the last slot none of the rules seem to apply, because I’ll end up messing up completed slots.

Am I losing the plot?

 

[Mike Hughey]

The last slot is harder. You often have to do things differently so that the slot is in a different place relative to the pieces going in so that it will work - use that slot itself as the slot you "mess up" while putting in the pair.

Obviously if one or both of the pair are already in the slot, but it's not solved, you have to take them out as the first step to fixing them.

Even for intuitive solving, it can be helpful to look at an algorithms page to find good algorithms for solving cases that give you trouble. Watch how that algorithm works and try to understand it - it will not only help you solve that case, but often give you ideas for how to solve other cases.

 

[40yearstosolve]

Great thanks Mike, just a bit of reassurance, I need it by the bucket load - I’ve documented a lot my frustration with F2L. All I’ll say is that my morphine medication is coming in handy :-D

 

[JanW]

Anyone got any tips for the last slot in F2L?

I seem to either stare blindly, keep trying a multitude of the three cases or mess he while solve up.

I am finding that on the last slot none of the rules seem to apply, because I’ll end up messing up completed slots.

Am I losing the plot?

When it comes to the last slot, my advice from yesterday very much applies. Don't bring the corner piece to the slot you are about to solve into, like the guy says in the video. If you do, there's no way you can rearrange pieces in the U layer without disturbing a solved slot. If you are solving into FR, put corner into BR and you can hide it with a R move. Or, if the edge is attached to your corner so that it would get hidden with the same move, rotate cube 90 degrees counterclockwise so that your slot is in BR, then put corner in FR and hide it with a R' move.

 

[Old Tom]

Anyone got any tips for the last slot in F2L?

I seem to either stare blindly, keep trying a multitude of the three cases or mess he while solve up.

I am finding that on the last slot none of the rules seem to apply, because I’ll end up messing up completed slots.

Am I losing the plot?

I will mention again what I think of as sliding a completed block along the bottom, then sliding it back after a U turn. This is how I do intuitive sequences without permanently ruining any of the three completed slots.

Hard to explain without a video or a cube diagram. But, let's try: Suppose the only remaining slot shares the R and F faces. Now, visualize the F face. You will notice that there is an easily seen completed "block" at the F and L corner at the bottom.

My point is that you can make an F' turn, and this block sort of slides (actually rotates, and actually, just part of the block) over to the RF corner. BUT, it is still on the bottom. SO, you are free to make any desired U turn. THEN, slide (rotate) it back with the opposite F turn.

When you start the sequence, you make a U move to either put a U corner piece you want to drop directly on top of that LF block, or a U edge piece you want to drop in the upper middle of the F face. Now, make that F' (or whatever) sliding turn.

Then make a U move so that when you slide back, you have created one of the two Simple Cases. Viola!

It gets really easy to see, believe me: U-move, Slide, U-move, Slide Back. Four moves and you are at a Simple Case. Four moves at most, sometime only three.

Doesn't have to be the LF block or the F face, of course. Actually, the nice thing is that any of the three completed blocks can be chosen. This slows you down at first, but should not be for long. It helps to realize you will NOT be dropping your target piece into the target slot, rather, down into where the block was before you slid it.

(Different and longer of course when your target piece(s) are not already up on U. So, bring them up and take it from there. Or, do it another way.)

Hope you can understand all that! And good luck.

 

[pglewis]

Anyone got any tips for the last slot in F2L?

I seem to either stare blindly, keep trying a multitude of the three cases or mess he while solve up.

I am finding that on the last slot none of the rules seem to apply, because I’ll end up messing up completed slots.

Am I losing the plot?

Cube simulators are awesome, here are commented examples of the three cases. You can step through manually with the right arrow. You can set these cases up yourself by executing the moves in reverse (though, you literally have to reverse the moves, eg R for R'). I'll use the front right slot for the examples here, but front left is the same thing, just mirrored. If the pieces are not mis-connected then I still suggest looking at the top of the edge and putting that color in front. In these examples that'll be green for all three cases.

White on top
Same color on top
Different colors on top (requires corner and edge are in position first)

Note that all three cases start with an R move. The front right slot is the free one and an R move will only disturb that slot. You can split misjoined pairs with the same concept, hiding either the edge or corner via an R move, followed by U face turn or turns to move the other piece away, then restore with R'. That will not always work depending on the orientation of the pieces, the other way to split pieces would be with an F' move... but a rotation to put orange (for these examples) in front temporarily is usually better (that'll move your open slot to the left side and you'd use L' as the "hide move" instead of R).

 

[h2f]

11:14 4BLD which was lucky enough to get 1st place

Congrats!

 

[SpartanSailor]

I ddin’t get to do the MBLD today, but that’s okay. Someone did 23/29 and ran out of time at an hour. Most were MUCH less than.

Question: How does one find the scrambles used in a competition? I am interested to see the scrambles used for my 3BLD attempts.

 

[h2f]

Question: How does one find the scrambles used in a competition? I am interested to see the scrambles used for my 3BLD attempts.

They are in wcadb.net when results are published on wca page.

 

[SpartanSailor]

They are in wcadb.net when results are published on wca page.

Great. Thanks! I’ll have to check this week. There are still event from today ongoing.