pll

(Partial) PLL Speed (of Tortoise) Attack

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There are 21 PLL algorithms, with an average of 15 moves (QTM) each. Those are enormously intimidating figures for someone new to cubing — especially if that someone is, say, in his mid-thirties, has a demanding job, two kids, and, therefore, limited time and energy. And even more so if, as the four readers who occasionally glance at this blog’s carefully produced and curated content already know about me, that someone is just plain bad at memorizing. That’s why, when I began this curious adventure a little bit more than ten months ago, I did so with appropriate humility. I had no illusions of being a 10-second solver, and nary a thought of even consistently approaching 45 seconds. This would be a fun distraction — something I could do interstitially. A low overhead, low footprint hobby. For it to become anything more, I figured, I’d have to do all this memorizing. Perish the thought.

And now this. A video of my version of a PLL speed attack (explanation below), showing my timed execution of the 17 PLLs I know.

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Ra Perm Drills

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I received an email responding to my last post (the one in which I declared this a blog for the mediocre!). I explained at the end of that post that, yes, clichéd as it is, the best advice for learning complicated algorithms is practice, practice, practice. The email asked how I practice. The short story is algorithm-by-algorithm, perm-by-perm. I just learned the Ra PLL, for example: (R U2 R) D (R’ U R) D’ (R’ U’) (R’ U R U R’). It was among the harder perms I’ve learned, and I’m not fast at it — between 3 and 4.5 seconds. So, I just drill over and over and over. Do it, reset, do it again. Here’s a quick video showing it:

Yes, that’s a just-purchased off-brand Stackmat timer connected to CCT on my work PC. “Shanty” form Bright Light Social Hour’s brilliant self-titled album is barely audible in the background.

PLL Madness

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Over the past three months, I’ve accomplished something I thought I never would: I’ve learned most of the PLL Perms for the last layer. Henceforth, Summer 2012 shall be known as:

Honestly, I never thought I could learn all of these. Continue reading →

V Perm — Booya

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UPDATE: This alg sucks. I long ago migrated to a totally different version, which is (odd as it may sound) my favorite alg.

After a brief hitaus from learning new algorithms, I posted over the weekend about learning Y Perm (and its two constituent OLLs). Feeling emboldened, I ventured into V Perm this week.  According to smart people, 1/18 of solves should see a V Perm.  Maybe something about my F2L technique puts a thumb on the V Perm scale, but I feel like I see it at least every 6 or 7 solves.

In any event, I learned it.  It was hard.  About as hard as I expected.  And I’m still slow at it.  But it works.  Here’s a quickie video showing me clunk through it:

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Y Perm (OLL 37 + OLL 33)

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Over the past month, my F2L speed has increased considerably — now averaging about 20-22 seconds…and dropping. My cross can get faster, but it’s not terrible at 6-ish seconds.

That leaves the last layer as the big x-factor. I know a handful of OLLs and PLLs. Still, I’m two-looking the orientation stage and then two-(and-sometimes-even-three-)looking the permutation stage.

I haven’t tried to pick up new algorithms for a while, mostly because I feel like I’ve already picked the low hanging fruit. (A glutton for punishment, I did recently learn Na Perm but then stalled at the tougher Nb.)

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