Slowly, I’ve been chipping away at new algorithms and permutations. Last week I learned a faster edge cycle technique (both directions), and I’ll post about that soon. This weekend, I learned more OLLs — the three with the corners correct but edges flipped. I’m not great at memorizing, but these are starting to come fairly easily. More muscle memory than memorization, I suppose. Here’s a quick video with the three:
And here are the algorithms I use: Continue reading
Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted a series of personal bests — culminating in last week’s 34 second solve. But none of those PBs were evidenced by anything other than a screen capture. So, it was nice just now to record (on my hastily set up iPad) this 39-second solve before diving into my work day.
This was on my re-stickered Dayan Zhanchi, with my custom (homemade) G‑sticker. This nicely showcases my slow but steady evolution — with no remnants of the Beginner’s Method. Advanced cross, F2L, Antisune (OLL 26), and the just-learned Ub Perm for the PLL edge cycle.
My QJ pyraminx arrived last week. So far, I’ve spent a couple hours with it and a few good youtube tutorials (this one, especially). It’s a far easier puzzle than a 3×3 cube — not only because it has only four faces, but also because (disregarding the “trivial tips”) each face has only two solvable layers.
Hence, my 31-second solve after very little practice:
I feel like I’m starting to hit a new groove. After mastering the Beginner’s Method a couple months ago, I’ve slowly embraced more complicated techniques (read: time-savers). First, it was the advanced cross technique, which I learned quickly but at which I’m still slower than I ought to be. Then it was a month of intuitive F2L. I’ve got that mostly down, with a couple non-intuitive cases still a challenge. Lately, I’ve been jazzed to learn a few more OLL/PLL algorithms. Each expands the toolbox and introduces more efficiency. Last week, it was H and Z PLL perms. This week, it’s OLL 6 (aka, The Sidewinder).
A few days ago, Deadesq (AIC’s first guest blogger) mentioned to me that he was looking for a more efficient solution to the four-headlight situation. By four headlights, he meant the situation in which, after applying the Beginner’s Method PLL corner permutations, you’re left with all four faces having headlights — with no fully solved side face. As I described in my tutorial, in that situation, the Beginner’s Method requires applying the PLL edge permutation algorithm twice in a row. Although I can do that quickly, it’s still not as quick as a single permutation. Enter H and Z perms…. Continue reading
adventures in cubing 