tutorials

eliminating U2’

Adventures in Cubing1 Comment

Over the past month or so, I’ve been trying to eliminate U2’ from most algorithms that call for a double-U turn. When I first began cubing, I realized the exact equivalence between a U2 and a U2’ in terms of the position of the cubies. What I didn’t realize was that U2’, in most cases, is more awkward than U2 and often leaves hand/finger positions incompatible with more efficient finger tricks. Also, now that I do double-U flicks with my right hand (while struggling to do double U’ flicks with my left), it’s just a lot slower to do U2’.

This video (and the chart below it) shows that I’ve replaced U2’ in most algorithms, but have purposely left it as U2’ in a couple others:

(cube: Dayan Zhanchi w/ Cube Specialists fitted bright+ stickers)

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Still More Tough F2L (##15-18)

Adventures in Cubing1 Comment

This is the third installment in the tough/hard/weird/non-intuitive F2L series, with the first and second posts among the most popular on this site and my Youtube channel. These cases (#15-18) require splitting top-layer pairs before re-combining them — what the F2L wiki refers to as “splitting pairs by going over.” As with the cases in the other tutorials, having now spent some time with alternate algorithms, these seem less “tough” than just non-intuitive.

Following the format of the previous installments, here’s a video tutorial, followed by table contrasting my old (intuitive) approaches against the improved ones:

(music: Bassnectar, “Timestretch (West Coast Lo Fi Remix)”; cube: Maru CX3 w/ stock stickers)

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Updated V Perm (Multi-Cam)

Adventures in Cubing2 Comments

V PLL

z D’ R2′ D (R2 U R’) D'(R U’) (R U R’) D (R U’) z’

It’s not weird to have a favorite algorithm, right? I mean, look at unboxing or review videos, and each cuber seems to have a go-to move. For a while now, mine’s been the V Perm — the PLL that (a) swaps opposite corners and (b) swaps the adjacent edges next to them. I hated the V Perm, as I first learned it: R’ U R’ d’ R’ F’ R2 U’ R’ U R’ F R F. That algorithm was clunky, without a good flow.

Enter jskyler91, who posted this “non-standard” V Perm execution, which flows smoothly with no re-grips:

z D’ R2′ D (R2 U R’) D’ (R U’) (R U R’) D (R U’) z’

Since it’s one of the more complicated executions in my repertoire, I thought it would lend itself to a multi-angle video. I did something similar, when I was still learning the algorithm, and I wanted to update it:

(music: “Dinah,” Thelonious Monk (solo); cube: Dayan Zhanchi w/ Cube Specialists fitted bright stickers)

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More Tough F2L

Adventures in Cubing5 Comments

My post on “Weird” F2L is the most viewed on this site, and features the most popular video on my Youtube channel — with continuing thanks to CBC! So, I decided to copy the same format to showcase three more tough (at least for me) F2L cases. It turns out that these actually are easy cases. It’s just that the “intuitive” approaches are clunky, and the easy approaches non-intuitive.

Here’s the video tutorial, followed by table contrasting my old (intuitive) approaches against these improved ones:

(music: New Mastersounds, “You Mess Me Up”; cube: Maru CX3 w/ stock stickers)

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“Weird” F2L Improved (##11-12, 23-24)

Adventures in Cubing3 Comments

There are limits to intuitive F2L (so-called). There, I said it. Again. Yes, the concept of pairing edges and corners in the top layer before insertion is elementary, and, in many instances, you can intuit just how to do that — splitting pairs, using empty slots, etc. But the solution to certain cases is far from intuitive. Which is to say that purely intuitive approaches might work, but inefficiently (too many moves, unnecessary cube rotations, etc.).

Cases 23 and 24 are prime examples; their cousins, 11 and 12, are close seconds. Having spent a few days on these four cases (watching videos, looking on the speedsolving wiki, etc.), I found much better solutions than my “intuitive” ones. (With the exception of #23, which I had learned from Andy Klise’s excellent F2L Cheat Sheet.)

The improved cases are demonstrated in the video below and summarized in the chart that follows it. The cube is an F2L Practice Cube, basically a Maru Cx3 with only the bottom two layers stickered. Anyone learning F2L should un-sticker the top layer of a cube to prevent distraction and increase F2L focus.

(music: Budos Band, “Nature’s Wrath”; cube: Maru CX3 w/ stock stickers)

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