The Solve Critique Thread

mafergut said:
The URL gives some error and I cannot access, but, you mean F2L algs? I do F2L completely intuitively. I know an alg or two for some special cases but I don't think I use them much in real solves, I'd say less than 1% of the time. That doesn't mean that most insertion "strategies" don't transform into algs once you store them in muscular memory and execute them almost without thinking but that's different than explicitly memorizing the F2L cases from scratch. Also the advantage of intuitive is that it becomes much easier to rotate / reflect the cases to insert in different slots than front-right.
Click to expand...

oh damn it .. and yea i do it intuitively as well, for example

When white (colour of the cross) is facing up
I'll move it to the right back corner and hide it, and then find the edge piece, align it then do a y cube rotation and do a R' to hide the edge .. do a u2 to pair them up and insert it U' R U R'(inserting in the back) or U2 R' U R U' R(insering in the front)


When white (colour of the cross) is facing front
- I'll also move it to the right back, do a R to hide it, and then look for the edge piece, align with the colour.
Then I'll do a y cube rotation and do a R' U' R and insert it backwards.
- If the colour on top of the corner piece is green so as the edge piece, ill then put the edge piece on the back and then take the corner piece up to pair them and do a U2 R U' R' to insert in front.


When white (colour of the cross) is facing left
- For this case, ill insert the pair in the back (most of the time)
hide the white in the right back corner as well, if red side is facing me, ill find the edge piece where the red is aligned and do a U.
After that ill bring the corner up and do another U and continue with R U R'
- If the red in facing me, and the corner piece has blue on top and the edge piece has red on top, ill hide the corner and find the edge piece and put in on the red side. Then ill bring the corner up again and do a 'd' cube rotation and continue with a R' U' R and insert it back.


also, if there's already a pair paired up, ill do a 'd' cube rotation, R' U' R to break them up and them do the same thing i wrote above.


should i do a video about how i solve the F2L, and let you guys critique it, would that be better?
 
Bryan Chia said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ef_Pr65Scg&feature=youtu.be
Click to expand...

0:33 you didn't need to rotate for that one
0.44 a better way to do that case would be U R' F R F' U R U' R'
3:07 didn't need rotation. F R U2 R' F'

I didn't want to go through other pairs. In general, you have to be more comfortable with the other slots other than FR. Reduce rotations. You rotate way too much during F2L. y2 is bad. Learn a few rotationless cases.

PS - Your cross also needs work.
 
sneaklyfox said:
0:33 you didn't need to rotate for that one
0.44 a better way to do that case would be U R' F R F' U R U' R'
3:07 didn't need rotation. F R U2 R' F'

I didn't want to go through other pairs. In general, you have to be more comfortable with the other slots other than FR. Reduce rotations. You rotate way too much during F2L. y2 is bad. Learn a few rotationless cases.

PS - Your cross also needs work.
Click to expand...

0:33 - yeah, i did some solves today and i had that same case, didnt do a cube rotation this time, inserted the pair at the left back
as for 0:44 and 3:07, ill have to work on those algs ><

and the cross, im still trying my best to solve it on the bottom @@
 
Hi Guys. This is the first time I record my solves and I have already seen many things I could improve but I'm sure you can help me a lot with your suggestions. For example, my turning is very sloppy and I pause much more than I thought I did.

This is a very normal Ao5 for me. It's got a sub-20 and a terrible 26.xx. Total Ao5 22.71, almost two secs short of my PB. Thanks in advance.

[video=youtube_share;tHgHqbBMuM4]http://youtu.be/tHgHqbBMuM4[/video]

1. 24.03 R2 F' L2 B' R2 U2 F2 D2 B2 R2 F' L' D2 B2 L D' L' B2 U' R' F
2. (19.10) F2 R2 U2 R2 U L2 U2 B2 U' F2 D L' B' L B' D2 F' U F'
3. 23.12 D L2 R2 B2 D' L2 R2 F2 L2 D2 U R' B' R U F L' B2 D2 R U
4. 20.97 D2 R2 D' B2 U2 B2 D' F2 L2 B2 U2 R' F R' F D' U R B2 U' F2
5. (26.74) R2 B' D2 B D2 B' L2 D2 B' F' D R2 F' R D' F' L' B2 D' B2 U2
 
JustinTimeCuber said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgc7z4kq_xk
Please give advice.
Click to expand...

Hi JustinTimeCuber. It is difficult to see well the solves. Because of bad lighting, the image is very fuzzy when you're solving. Also the camera angle would be much better from behind just showing your hands and cube a bit closer. Judging just for the "flow" of the solve, most specifically the last one in 18 seconds I don't really see significant pauses in that one, so lookahead seems decent for your speed (better than mine, for sure). Only things I can think of, for getting into 15 territory would be: a bit better cross-to-F2L transition, a bit less rotation during F2L (even though it didn't look that bad either) and better PLL recognition without having to "turn the cube around" just by seeing two sides of the LL. This last one I am working on and when I watch myself on video I realize I always do it too.

Hope this helps. I have my Ao5 2 posts down from yours, just in case you have anything to say that might help me. ;-)

Happy cubing!
 
Last edited:
http://www.softberrykai.com/~vivek/other/files/solves/solve1.mov
http://www.softberrykai.com/~vivek/other/files/solves/solve2.mov
http://www.softberrykai.com/~vivek/other/files/solves/solve3.mov
http://www.softberrykai.com/~vivek/other/files/solves/solve4.mov
http://www.softberrykai.com/~vivek/other/files/solves/solve5.mov

I just put them on my personal site to avoid the hassle of youtube uploads

If there's a way I can have the forum show the video like it does with youtube, but getting it from another place with just the plain movie file, please tell me.

anyway, the times for these are between about 19 and 25 or so, I don't know the exact ones.

The third one I got a cross/f2l screwup, so yeah.
 
mafergut said:
Hi Guys. This is the first time I record my solves and I have already seen many things I could improve but I'm sure you can help me a lot with your suggestions. For example, my turning is very sloppy and I pause much more than I thought I did.

This is a very normal Ao5 for me. It's got a sub-20 and a terrible 26.xx. Total Ao5 22.71, almost two secs short of my PB. Thanks in advance.

http://youtu.be/tHgHqbBMuM4

1. 24.03 R2 F' L2 B' R2 U2 F2 D2 B2 R2 F' L' D2 B2 L D' L' B2 U' R' F
2. (19.10) F2 R2 U2 R2 U L2 U2 B2 U' F2 D L' B' L B' D2 F' U F'
3. 23.12 D L2 R2 B2 D' L2 R2 F2 L2 D2 U R' B' R U F L' B2 D2 R U
4. 20.97 D2 R2 D' B2 U2 B2 D' F2 L2 B2 U2 R' F R' F D' U R B2 U' F2
5. (26.74) R2 B' D2 B D2 B' L2 D2 B' F' D R2 F' R D' F' L' B2 D' B2 U2
Click to expand...

I'm certainly no expert. I average 18.xx so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. But I did notice a few things:

1) You definitely need to work on your cross to 1st pair transition. If you notice, on your worst solves, especially your first and your last, you planned out your cross just fine, but after you finished it...you paused and searched for your first pair. You should have that first pair in mind and ready to go as soon as you finish your cross. What helped me the most was to execute the cross but make sure I finished it with my eyes on yellow, and not on the front of the cube. The way you're holding the cube when you finish the cross you're staring at one of the side colors. From that angle, it's difficult to spot corners and edges. So hold the cube in a way the yellow is on top as much as possible and execute the cross from that angle.

2) Yes, lots of pauses in f2l pairs. This will be reduced with practice, but more importantly point #3 below.

3) You're rotating way too much. There are a lot of tricks you can use to insert pairs into the back slots that will cut down on your rotations. Check out these series of videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/WikSlayer/videos They helped me A LOT, and cut down my times significantly. Start with his video labeled "F2L 1- Downside Plank" and work your way through the series. Those are not the only tricks however. Check out the "The Request an Algorithm" thread here on this forum for even more clever and useful f2l insertions. Trust me, they take you a long way. :)
 
mafergut said:
Hi Guys. This is the first time I record my solves and I have already seen many things I could improve but I'm sure you can help me a lot with your suggestions. For example, my turning is very sloppy and I pause much more than I thought I did.

This is a very normal Ao5 for me. It's got a sub-20 and a terrible 26.xx. Total Ao5 22.71, almost two secs short of my PB. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

i just realise my turning style and yours look exactly the same but i avg around 25s-28s :/
especially when doing the cross. I'll be uploading mine is a few days
 
Artic said:
I'm certainly no expert. I average 18.xx so you can take what I say with a grain of salt. But I did notice a few things:

1) You definitely need to work on your cross to 1st pair transition. [...] So hold the cube in a way the yellow is on top as much as possible and execute the cross from that angle.

3) You're rotating way too much. [...]
Click to expand...

1) Great advice! I will try to do what you suggest. I have problems with some complex crosses to even plan the whole cross so, getting further to plan the 1st F2L pair seems out of reach for now but what you say points more in the direction of looking ahead to find the 1st pair while doing the cross, not planning the pair during inspection and that's something that I would benefit from for sure.

2) Nothing to say, I need to improve lookahead. There are easy insertions where I can do it mindlessly and I have good lookahead but here are others where I still need to be thinking of the current insertion and, hence, my lookahead suffers a lot.

3) It is curious but when I try slow solves I can finish F2L without any y2 rotations and with just a few y / y' rotations or just regrips from right to left hand work. But this is something that still has not been automated correctly by me so that I can use it in speed solves. I will have to work on that too. Anyway there are some cases that I still cannot do from the back and require me to rotate, like inserting the edge when the corner is already in place. To do that from back I'd prefer to take the corner out. I have checked the videos you recommend and I'm sure there are some cases that can be useful because they are quite intuitive but there are others that definitely are not, and take out other pairs, do wide Rs, etc. that I don't see other way to use them than memorize them as algorithms. I don't think that's the way to go for, at least not now. Also I only see that he covers insertions on the front-right slot but from the four possible orientations of the pair. I will give it a try but, as I said, some cases are too complex to learn as intuitive F2L.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to watch my video and write down your advice. It will certainly help me a lot.
 
Bryan Chia said:
i just realise my turning style and yours look exactly the same but i avg around 25s-28s :/
especially when doing the cross. I'll be uploading mine is a few days
Click to expand...

I will be glad to watch and give you my 2 cents but I have soooo much to improve myself that I'm starting to think that perhaps I should shy away of commenting on other people's solves.
 
mafergut said:
I will be glad to watch and give you my 2 cents but I have soooo much to improve myself that I'm starting to think that perhaps I should shy away of commenting on other people's solves.
Click to expand...

yeah sounds good to me :tu
we could both improve together !
my f2l avg around 13s - 17s (still working on look-ahead and reduce some rotations)
and 2 look oll takes me at least 4s-7s ..
 
Bryan Chia said:
yeah sounds good to me :tu
we could both improve together !
my f2l avg around 13s - 17s (still working on look-ahead and reduce some rotations)
and 2 look oll takes me at least 4s-7s ..
Click to expand...

Sure! Count me in!

What gets me mad is that I already use 1-look OLL and PLL. I'm even thinking of learning some additional algs for U2-rotated PLL cases and I see people that can be sub-18 with 4-look LL. Perhaps my brain and hands work at a slower pace :) Almost all my good times are done with simple OLLs (like T cases) and A or U PLLs. The other day I did a 19.xx ending in an N-perm and I thought, oh my! when was the last time I got a sub-20 with other than an A or U-perm?
 
mafergut said:
Sure! Count me in!

What gets me mad is that I already use 1-look OLL and PLL. I'm even thinking of learning some additional algs for U2-rotated PLL cases and I see people that can be sub-18 with 4-look LL. Perhaps my brain and hands work at a slower pace :) Almost all my good times are done with simple OLLs (like T cases) and A or U PLLs. The other day I did a 19.xx ending in an N-perm and I thought, oh my! when was the last time I got a sub-20 with other than an A or U-perm?
Click to expand...

you're better than me. like you can get sub 20 easily since you know most of the oll and pll already. we both really need to work on the F2L's
 

4 Megaminx solves: Originally an average of 5, but the 5th one had to be removed, as the Megaminx was off camera for most of the solve.

02:20.69 R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D-- U' R-- D-- R-- D-- R-- D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- U' R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ U R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ U R-- D-- R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- U' R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ U R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ U
02:17.05 R-- D++ R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ U R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ U R++ D-- R-- D++ R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D++ U R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ U R-- D-- R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- U' R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ U R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ U
02:23.19 R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- U' R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- U' R++ D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D++ U R++ D++ R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ U R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ R++ D-- R++ D-- U' R-- D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ R++ D++ U R-- D++ R++ D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- U'
02:28.36 R++ D-- R++ D-- R++ D-- R-- D++ R-- D++ U R++ D-- R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ U R-- D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ U R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- R++ D-- R-- D-- U' R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- U' R++ D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- U' R++ D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- U'

This was the best angle I could get, I hope it's visible enough.

Someone yell at me if this thread is only for 3x3. Also, caution, I added the songs I was listening to as the soundtrack.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Look ahead will bring you Sub-20 fairly easily. The way I practiced (and still practicing) Lookahead was to insert the pairs blindfolded.
This will give you time to search the next pair while inserting. Just do 10-20 solves aday without timing, just with blindfolded pair inserting and sharpen your skills while solving!
Good Luck!
 
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