I had a lot of fun puzzling with the kiddos (and Rory!) in the summer of 2022. We mainly did 3x3x3 cubing in Washington, then had fun with the bright yellow Bump Cube, the Redi Cube, and 2x2x2 puzzles here. After everyone was home again I decided it was time to brush up on solving various puzzles.
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| Clover Cube Plus |
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| Skewb Xtreme |
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| Double Circle Cube |
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| Square-1 |
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| Tangram Cube |
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| Axis Cube |
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| Windmill Cube |
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| Fisher Time Wheel |
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| Clover Pyraminx (it is really a 3x3x3) |
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| 3x3x2 and 2x2x3 |
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| 2x3x4 & 3x3x1 |
I'm having trouble with the 2x3x4. I've looked at past solution strategies and well, nothing feels right. Oh, I've been able to solve it several times over the last few days but I don't really have a strategy I am settled in on. I have not been using reduction. Solving the inner 2x2x3 is always part of it.
On the way to solving the 2x2x3 if you need to solve centers after the whites and yellows are solved, there is a 4 move sequence that 3-cycles them. With a 2x3 in front and a 3x4 on top M down U2 M up U2 3-cycles the M layer center-edge pairs from UF to UB to DB. So say you have red up and an orange center at UB and a red center at DB. M down U2 M up U2 solves the centers.
To swap the blue orange and blue red edges use a setup sequence so they are opposite one another on a 3x4 side then use (R2 U2) x 3 to swap them along with two phantom edges.
To cycle URF to DRB to DLF do (U L2 U' R2) x 2 (R2 F2) (U L2 U' R2) x 2 (F2 R2).
To cycle ULF to DLB to DRF do (U' R2 U L2) x 2 (L2 F2) (U' R2 U L2) x 2 (F2 L2).
To double swap ULF with URB and DLF with DRB do R2 F2 R2.
To double swap ULF with DLB and DLF with ULB do L2 then swap the white and yellow edges back using a double swap with phantom edges.
(F2 D2 F2 D2) = (URF 3-cycle) + (ULF 3-cycle)
I have scrambled and solved this puzzle multiple times now without much trouble at all. No major issues.
