Puzzled 2: Clover Cube Plus

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Clover Cube Plus

A couple years ago this puzzle caught my fancy. I don't remember how. Like many of my puzzles it was all-consuming for a bit then totally neglected for a couple years. I had forgotten that it jumbles. Actually I'm not sure if it jumbles by the technical use of the word, but it seems to to me! It at least shape shifts, but it isn't your typical shape shifter. It is like the Curvy Copter Cube. The thing that makes me skeptical is that it can be turned as a 2x2x2 as well as being an edge turner. Anyway...

See how it can be 3-cycled like a Copter Cube?

And here it is scrambled

And here it is "jumbled"

For some reason Sunday night I did a simple jumble move and ended up with a couple petals sticking out. I was starting to remember that I had "mastered" this back in 2018 but Sunday couldn't get it back to cube shape inspite of many attempts. So I decided to look up my solution guide. Don't I always make a solution guide? Well... I looked everywhere I could think of to look but with no success.

Finally I gave up trying to find any documentation I may have made in the past. There was nothing to do but try to figure it out. Again. In the end, in order to figure out how to get it back to cube shape, I made the other half of the puzzle look like this half and then undid both. Easy. Why did it take so long to think of that.

Then I started putting colors together. Finally I seemed to recall that my strategy before was to solve it one corner block at a time and after a while it was going along fine. Then I got to a point I could no longer do what I was doing because it was all solved except for one final corner block.

After finishing this solve the next one ended with one, that's right, one twisted corner.

One more interesting scramble and solve. I call this 4 Horms.

In order to get my head around twisting corners when I thought that is what I needed to do to solve the Clover Cube Plus I got a 2x2x2 out to refresh my memory. Today (the day after I finished all of the above) I scrambled and solved the 2x2x2 half a dozen times give or take. Nice little review.

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Rubik's Cube Books

I got my first Rubik's Cube in the early nineteen eighties. The only way I could solve it was to take it apart and put it back together solved. Until, that is, I got some little books that explained sequences of moves that could be used to put pieces where you want them without messing up what was already in place.

The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube
by James G. Nourse
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube
by David Singmaster
Solve That Crazy, Mixed-up Cube Puzzle
by Don Frederick.

I think I put together my own strategy using bits and pieces gleaned from all three books. Eventually I lost interest and forgot how to complete the cube, forgot I had those books, and lost track of the cubes.

Mark Jeays' Working Corner Method

http://jeays.net/rubiks.htm

In 2007 my interest in Rubik's Cube was rekindled when I watched the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Marae found my 1980s cube for me and I tried to solve it. Huh-uh. I could do part of it, but not the last layer. Looking online I found various tutorials. Mark Jeays included YouTube videos with his Solution 2. This method worked for me and although I no longer use it in its entirety, nor could I, as I have forgotten the yellow edges sequences, I still find the basic working corner technique helpful, and use a slightly modified version of his corner twisting technique at times.

In the summer of 2014 we packed 30 or so puzzles and flew to visit Raymond and Fam in the Czech Republic. Breann, who had learned this method and no other, made some comment about bubururu or something like that, and it piqued my curiosity. What were those algorithms, and how similar are they to the EPS technique I use now when using a working corner? So I looked them up. Actually, the three algorithms were for dealing with the two last edges solved, which either needed to be swapped, or flipped, or swapped and flipped. The swapper is very similar to the one I have learned and used since, but I actually like it better in one sense, with a slight modification.

To swap UR and FR without flipping:

U' R U' R' U' R U' R' U'

To swap and flip UR and FR:

F' U' F U' F' U' F U2

To flip UR and FR:

F' U F U' R U' R' U

Will I actually learn and use these? Probably not. But I like them. :)

There is a slightly different implementation of the Working Corner Method. Arnaud van Galen calls it the Keyhole Method. I like his demonstration better than the one I originally learned. It just dawned on me why he is able to get away with doing it the way he does. He goes ahead and finishes the F2L before going to the last layer, unlike the way Jeays uses the working corner (keyhole) to also get the last layer. Since I no longer use the working corner to get the last layer, I should implement Arnaud's technique.

Jasmine's Scalable Method

http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html

This was the next method I learned. For awhile the idea of speed cubing appealed to me. This promised to be a good beginner's method for those that wanted to go on to faster method's later. Now that I know what I know, I wouldn't recommend this method if your goal is to be able to consistently solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Rubik's Speedsolver Champion Leyan Lo presents a beginner's method that I like the looks of although I've never learned it. I have recently watched Arnaud van Galen's complete beginner's method video series and recommend them. Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that is very close to one of my favorite ways of solving the cube. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. Also, if you are interested in speedcubing you should check out this YouTube video.

After trying for months to get under a minute with both Jasmine's Method and the Corner's First Method—and failing, I finally decided to quit trying and just enjoy cubing at a nice slow pace.

Don't get me wrong. Jasmine's Method has its merits. The sequences for orienting the last layer edges and corners, and permuting the last layer edges are still in my arsenal of useful algorithms.

Adam Cheyer's Corners First Method

Philip Marshall's Ultimate Solution

http://helm.lu/cube/MarshallPhilipp/
After learning to solve the cube corners first, what is next? An Edges First Method! This was a very difficult tutorial to follow, but once I got it, it was my favorite way to solve the cube for awhile. It uses only a few algorithms, and when you are finished solving the cube you feel like you've solved the puzzle, not just used memorized sequences to unscramble it.

Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that could be used to solve the cube edges first. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. His technique is much easier to follow than Marshall's.