[Help Thread] Skewb Discussion

[Duncan Bannon]

Really? Cool! I may have to finish learning it after full CLL.

 

[CarterK]

Well there's skrouxb and probably some people who use it but idk who

Does NS count? Just build a layer and then use an alg, although some of the algs are just sarahs advanced.

 

[Mallot1]

TL;DR:
Hey everyone, I recently brought a Skewb and I am trying to solve it unaided and I have gotten to the point where I just need to rotate the white, red, and blue faces 90 degrees clockwise around the red, white, and blue corner piece. If someone could help me head into the right direction (no spoilers!) that would be great! Thanks !

Full:
Hello everyone! I brought myself a Skewb from Thecubicle.us and I have been working on solving the Skewb on my own without outside help. I am at the point of the Skewb where the whole Skewb is solve except the white, blue, and red faces need to be rotated 90 degrees clockwise around the red, blue and white corner piece. I feel so close to solving the Skewb, but I feel like I am getting to the point where I am running out of ideas. I have made a algorithm that can rotate the center corner, but it affects other pieces as well. I haven't been able to create an algorithm that can only do one operation and restore the rest of the Skewb (I have tried using commutators like in the qedcat.com Cube solving article). If someone could please help me head in the right direction (please no spoilers!) that would be greatly appreciated. I feel I am so close, but I just don't know what to do. All help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Underwatercuber]

Sledge hammer.

 

[AidanNoogie]

Sledge hammer.

The only alg you ever need for Skewb lol.

 

[xyzzy]

I remember that when I first tried to solve a skewb, without having seen any tutorials at all, it took me over half an hour…

Spoiler: rough description of how I did it

My first solve was sort of like this: solve one face, orient the other corners, then do this crazy 1000-move alg that does a 5-cycle on the centres a million times until it's fully solved. For my second solve I got (a bit) wiser: I solved four corners and the centres like an Ivy Cube, then did some weird commutators and such to fix the last four corners.

(And after that I learnt Sarah's beginner's method, because there's no point in trying to develop a slow and inefficient method.)

Trying to come up with commutators on deep-cut puzzles like the skewb is inherently tricky because of how every move moves half of the puzzle at once; you really want to find some (preferably short) move sequence that preserves a lot of the cube, but not all of it. The "sledgehammer", as mentioned in the above posts, is one of them (twists four corners, permutes four centres, is only four moves long and very fast to execute).

 

[Ordway Persyn]

Bob Burton it. just undo what you did and redo it differently until you get it solved, (this is the ugly way to solve it but It will eventually work)

 

[Mallot1]

Thanks for your help guys, I keep trying to come up with algorithms to do a edge twist but it always affects the other pieces as well. Any tips for making commutators for the Skewb?

 

[WACWCA]

Thanks for your help guys, I keep trying to come up with algorithms to do a edge twist but it always affects the other pieces as well. Any tips for making commutators for the Skewb?

Not sure what you mean by edge twist?

 

[Mallot1]

Not sure what you mean by edge twist?

My mistake, I meant the center corner piece.

 

[CarterK]

My mistake, I meant the center corner piece.

There are 2 types of pieces, a center and a corner. Which are you taliking about.

 

[Mallot1]

I am referring to the corner piece that is in the center of the Skewb when you hold the Skewb with a corner facing you.

 

[CarterK]

I am referring to the corner piece that is in the center of the Skewb when you hold the Skewb with a corner facing you.

You can't twist just one corner. Is it Multiple corners? If so, notice that doing R' L R L' with 2 corners facing you twists the 4 corners on the top.

 

[Mallot1]

Hey guys, today I finally solved it! I first wrote an algorithm that twists the front corner and the back corner, and later I wrote an algorithm that cycles the faces around a corner and I was able to solve the Skewb. I then moved on and solved the Mirror Cube, and soon I will start the Square-1 . Thanks for the help!

 

[Mallot1]

Hey guys, today I finally solved it! I first wrote an algorithm that twists the front corner and the back corner, and later I wrote an algorithm that cycles the faces around a corner and I was able to solve the Skewb. I then moved on and solved the Mirror Cube, and soon I will start the Square-1 . Thanks for the help!

Referring to February 10th, 2018

 

[Daniel Lin]

how many cases(out of 134) require more than 3 sledges/hedges to solve after you've made a layer?

 

[CarterK]

how many cases(out of 134) require more than 3 sledges/hedges to solve after you've made a layer?

I'm not 100% sure, but I know about 65 algs for non 3 sledge cases, and I know all of them.

 

[MooseCuber]

Hi guys! So I average sub-5 on skewb with Sarah's intermediate method, but I want to continue to get faster. For me, I feel like the most logical thing would be to go on to Sarah's advanced. However, I have heard of NS, and I am wondering which would be smarter to learn. Is there a lot of overlap between the two methods? There are 134 algs for Sarah's Advanced, with many of them using sledges and hedges, and there are 103 (at least that I counted) for NS. Is NS a more supplemental thing then, like VLS or ZBLL would be for 3x3? If anyone is proficient in both methods and has some pros and cons of each, that would be super helpful! Thank you

 

[CarterK]

Hi guys! So I average sub-5 on skewb with Sarah's intermediate method, but I want to continue to get faster. For me, I feel like the most logical thing would be to go on to Sarah's advanced. However, I have heard of NS, and I am wondering which would be smarter to learn. Is there a lot of overlap between the two methods? There are 134 algs for Sarah's Advanced, with many of them using sledges and hedges, and there are 103 (at least that I counted) for NS. Is NS a more supplemental thing then, like VLS or ZBLL would be for 3x3? If anyone is proficient in both methods and has some pros and cons of each, that would be super helpful! Thank you

Definitely start with Sarah's advanced. NS is something you want to add to advanced as you learn them, and some things are better with advanced.

 

[Sue Doenim]

What's NS?