Two More Puzzles

After the 2x3x4 Camouflage Cuboid I did the Gear Ball. It wasn't as easy as it should have been. I was in a hurry to get it done so when it got hard I looked it up. This blog wasn't much help so I got help from the Solution Guides pre Fall 2013 spreadsheet.

Next up: a Crazy Saturn Pentahedron.

With this one also I turn to the Solution Guides pre Fall 2013 spreadsheet as I do not remember how to go about it. These kinds of puzzles never were my favorites because I can't solve them by using intuition and commutators. Special algorithms and methods had to be worked out to solve them.

From the Solution Guides pre Fall 2013 spreadsheet: (If you are looking back months or years from now looking for help, do not use this guide. Scroll down to the one made in 2020.)
Middle layer edges
Circle edges using simple twists. Outer edges using The Move and Zero faces.
If they are placed but 2 need to flip, flip the blue/orange edge column, do The Move with one that needs to flip as piece 1, flip back the blue/orange edge column, do The Move. Repeat if necessary.
If two outer edges need to swap, swap them, then use The Move to restore the inner edges, then restore the outer edges. Perhaps it is easiest to use The Move, if necessary, to make the two outer edges that need to swap include one that is not the One face.
Vertical edges
Get as many Inner edges as possible with twists of the top and bottom. Then use The Move. Inners with the One face; Outers with a Zero face.
Reduce the corners
Cycle the bottom corners using the zero faces. In this puzzle those are orange and blue. So if orange is R then blue is L in the following algorithms.

RU'RU L RDRD' L cycles the bottom corners anti-clockwise. LULU' R LD'LD R cycles the bottom corners clockwise.

With white (1) up, to move the whole corners on the right clock, do L'ULU R'UL' RUR'U LUR.
(Up Around Down Around Down Around Up; Up Around Down Around Down Around Up)
Use one of the zero faces to reduce corners. After using it twice in a row, the other may be used.

I am stumped. Using these instructions I can not reduce the corners! Maybe I should look for another way!

Yesterday was pretty exasperating. Throwing the puzzle in the trash was one option that came to mind. Taking it apart and putting it together solved was another. But I kept trying, and finally figured out a way to reduce all the corners!

Now I should be able to finish the solve. And then I need to clearly explain how to do it so that if I come back in 3 years it will be easier to understand.

When I tried to finish the solve this morning, I messed up and had to resolve the edges, but at least the corners are still reduced. Let's see if I can get it right this time. Oh no! A new challenge. Two purple corners are swapped, and two yellow corners are swapped. Got it!

Solution Strategy 2020

1. Middle Layer
2. Vertical Edges
3. Reduce Corners
4. Solve

Middle Layer

Go for the inner edges first, then use The Move to get the outer edges.

Outer edges using The Move and Zero faces.

On my Saturn Pentahedron the Orange and Blue are Zero faces and the White is the One face.

If they are placed but 2 need to flip, flip the blue/orange edge column, do The Move using zero faces with one that needs to flip as piece 1, flip back the blue/orange edge column, do The Move using zero faces. Repeat if necessary.

If two outer edges need to swap, perhaps it is easiest to use The Move, if necessary, to make the two outer edges that need to swap include one that is not the One face. Swap them, then use The Move to restore the inner edges, then restore the outer edges.

Vertical Edges

Get as many Inner edges as possible with twists of the top and bottom.
Use The Move with the One face to get the Inner edges.
Use The Move with a Zero face to get the Outer edges.

Reduce Corners
Maybe reduced corners can be gained by cycling outer corners around the bottom. If so, do it. R and L should be Zero faces.
RU'RU L RDRD' L cycles the bottom corners anti-clockwise.
LULU' R LD'LD R cycles the bottom corners clockwise.

Maybe moving whole corners around the purple or yellow sides will line things up so reduction can take place.

With white up, to move the whole corners on the right up (clock), do L'ULU R'UL' RUR'U LUR.

With white up, to move the whole corners on the left up (anti), do RUR'U LUR L'ULU R'UL'

Either way, you can think of it as
Up Around Down Around Down Around Up; Up Around Down Around Down Around Up

The laborious (fun?) part about reducing corners involves using the last algorithm to move corners between the yellow and purple sides so that just the right corners are in place to be reduced. With white up twist the orange/blue column to move the desired corner to the other side. Care must be taken to position L and R so that the right corners move and the right corners will be moved back when the orange/blue column is restored. The last 3-cycle of my latest solve illustrates this. See below.

Once 4 desirable corners are on either the blue or orange side you twist that side to reduce corners. Sometimes you gain a little, sometimes more. It temporarily does a double swap of edges, so more corners need to be moved into position on this side to be reduced so that the edges are restored. Fun! (laborious, and sometimes quite challenging)

Solve
Once all the corners are reduced, the same algorithm and technique is used to put them home.
Video of 3-cycle