Starting Over—Kind Of

After convincing myself that I could use my method to solve a cube with my eyes closed consistently, I decided to take a look see at how others really do it. I checked out NoahCubes@Cubing World on YouTube. It was thorough. Very. His corner method was similar to mine only used less setup moves because he uses a different PLL permutation. His edges method is M2, and from what I gather it is a popular method these days. M2 has pros and cons. The pro is that the move M2 is the swap algorithm! The cons are the complicated cases and the end game if there is parity.

I was pretty excited about a one twist swapper so tried to use M2 when it was easy, and my F Perm when M2 wouldn't work. And the parity issue? I'll just deal with it like I always have. And it works! I modified his M2 method a bit so it works with BD as the buffer and UF as the target. That way I have the same buffer for both M2 and F Perm.

I got to thinking. Why can't you do the same thing with corners? Why can't you use D2 as a swapper to get as many corners as possible? And so with DRB as the buffer I use DLF as the target when using D2. I tried it last night and it worked!

There are some gotchas that came up along the way. As long as I do an even number of M2 or D2 before switching to the F Perm I'm ok. So sometimes I have to use the F Perm to make the number of preceding M2s or D2s even.

Why complicate matters by using three different swappers instead of just one? Because two of them are so quick and easy!!!!!

After working through a scramble seeing what it would look like if I started with Corners, then what it would look like if I started with Edges, then trying to come up with a memorization system that would help me remember when to do M2 or D2 and when to use the F Perm, oh my, what a pain. I decided to take a break and go do some yardwork. While doing yard work it all became clear. When using the F Perm algo I use Food sentences. When using either M2 or D2 I use Jesus talk. Here is how it worked out.

L U' R2 U B' U' L D' F' L D B U L D' L B' U B U R B' D2 B D'
Joe	Knows
Yahweh	God	Loves	Others	Christ	Victorious
Ethan	Uses	Rice
Henry	Steams
God	Is	Patient	And	Jesus	Forgives

The first attempt I messed up and I didn't have a solve at the end. The second attempt I kept opening my eyes to make sure all was well. It was. Maybe I'll try again with another cube and see if I can get it start to finish with closed eyes.

Here is a breakdown of how many moves it takes me to solve each piece. Each word stands for a piece of the cube.

The ones that use the F Perm algorithm
Joe 23
Knows 25
Ethan 21
Uses 23
Rice 27
Henry 23
Steams 29

The ones that use M2 or D2
M2 for edges
Yahweh 7
God 7
Loves 7
Others 7
Christ 1
Victorious 7

D2 for corners
God 15
Is 9
Patient 7
And 17
Jesus 9
Forgives 7

So altogether I saved over 200 twists by using M2 for edges and D2 for corners whenever possible.

Popular BLD vs My BLD

Last night one thing led to another as they often do when researching online and I decided to really see how other people solve the cube without looking. NoahCubes on the Cubing World channel has a 5 video series on the subject. I'm on video 3. He is showing the Old Pochmann method. My method is based on the basic idea Pochmann used, at least partly, so the basic method is the same, but the implementation is way different. When I got started I knew only one algorithm that swaps a pair of corners and a pair of edges. So that is the algorithm I went with. I found a way to make it work for both corners and edges. Today I looked it up to see if my swapping algorithm has one of those Perm names. Yep. It is an F Perm algorithm. www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/PLL#F_Permutation is the page I found it on.

Too bad I didn't learn more of those PLL algorithms. The one NoahCubes shows has a definite advantage over mine. Setup moves for corners take either 1 or 2 moves. That is because the target is isolated from the other 3 pieces in the double swap. R, F, and D can all be used freely without disturbing the 3. My F Perm swapper is no longer than the algorithm he uses, but he has the advantage in setup move count. On the other hand I'm not so comfortable using D and I don't have to use it at all in my setups. And three series of moves that drive my setup move count up are R U Ri, R Ui Ri, and R U2 Ri. Those are pretty quick and easy to do. I also use L in my setup moves sometimes. Counting each of the above 3 sequences as 1 move instead of 3 moves here's how my setup moves break down: 3 take only 1 move; 10 take only 2 moves; 5 take 3 moves; 2 take 4 moves. I guess it isn't as bad as I thought.

I just finished video 3 of 5 in the series. He told about M2 for solving the edges. At first it seemed so simple and quick. Wow! But then it got crazy requiring some complicated thinking and knowledge of Y Perm or something like that. He has talked a lot about T Perm and Y Perm and J Perm. What are those? J Perm. To swap A and D corners and A and D edges use a J Perm algo. But in BLD you modify it slightly so you are swapping corners A and S. T Perm swaps corners A and D, and edges B and D. See the T? Y Perm swaps A and C corners, and A and D edges. There you have it. I do not plan to ever learn any of these algorithms.

He also used the nasty P word—parity. My method may not be as fast for speed solvers, but it is way more simple and straightforward. You pretty much just plug along using the same one algorithm for both corners and edges. The only thing is if you do an odd number of swaps in the first part you have to start with the front piece instead of the back piece when planning out the solve because it will be in the back when you get to that point in the solve.

I wonder though if I could use a combination of M2 and my method? Use M2 until it gets crazy then jump to my method. Is that possible? Rather than try it out immediately I went on to video 4, in which Noah talks about his memorization system. He uses letter pairs. Visual letter pairs and audio letter pairs. He goes into great detail. I might try to incorporate some of this. I think the visual images could be confusing to me because how do I know the order? So I might use audio for the whole solve instead of one for corners and the other for edges. He does not make sentences like I have been doing. I have already started using letter pairs and even 3 letters to form a single word, even before watching his video. With mine I have made things up on the fly though. He has a consistent set of words for each letter pair. In video 5 he gives tips on how to get sub 2. It builds on already being comfortable with the technique he taught in the previous videos. I don't plan to use it, so I will not be watching 5 at this time. I would like to see what others have to say about BLD though. I watched a couple other guys. Evidently there are a lot of memorization techniques. Mine works for me. I've been gravitating toward joining letters into a single word anyway.

Now I guess the only thing is to see if I could incorporate M2 at all.

Lidbeck Fun

I met Brandy and Josiah yesterday. They came to school to meet me and see my puzzle collection. One of the puzzles totally baffled me. The Witeden Super 3x3x3. It has circles on the white and yellow sides. Those sides will not turn if a complete circle is not present. I tried solving it today. Got close but not quite there. So I looked up my old notes. I've solved it several times now but it is still an adventure every time.

Josiah is almost 7 years old and has been cubing only a few weeks, but can solve the cube faster than I can. He wants to get faster so I am going to try to help him. While I am at it I will try to learn some speed solving techniques too, starting with the White Cross.

The puzzle in my collection that Josiah was most interested in is the Bump cube that I have stickered so that it can be solved by colors too. And the way I did it when you solve it by colors there is a silver cross on the orange side.

Brandy and I have been emailing about cube stuff a lot. She pointed me in the direction of SpeedCubeShop.com. It looks good. Next time I want to shop around I just might check there first.

The Results Are In

I discussed the 4 cubes I have recently and wondered if there is a better one out there that is quiet, smooth, and has easy color recognition in dim light. I even posed the question to my puzzling Facebook friends. I haven't gotten any feedback from them yet but as far as my 4 cubes go here is what I think this morning.

1. The Zanchi 5 Stickerless is the quietest, smoothest, colorifest cube.
2. The Rubik's Tiled is noisy and clunky, but the colors are good and for some reason in spite of the noise and clunkiness I like to use it.
3. The Dreampark is smooth but has that sometimes annoying spring sound. The colors are good in bright light but not in dim light.
4. The Duncan needs more trials before I decide if I prefer it over the Dreampark. I like the look and feel of the Dreampark better, but Duncan may have an edge in the sound category.

I don't know if I could do better than the Zanchi 5 Stickerless. It is for sure my favorite at this point.

Three Easy Solves. All In My Head.

I put the scramble on four cubes determined to do it without notes. If I failed on the first I'd go right to the second. This one was easy though. If they were all this easy I would consider going for 2 scrambles on 2 cubes consecutively. Close my eyes, solve one, put it down, solve the next, then open my eyes.

Today's solve used
Steve Picked 1 Cake And Ice cream
for the corners. One corner was solved to start with.
Then for the edges
Dan Ate Only Large Helpings Proclaimed Joe Vehemently
followed by a 3-cycle and a flip of two edges. The 3-cycle was simple and the flipped edges were both on front. Easy peasy.

The scramble: checkerboard then U L2 D' R B' L F' D2 F2 D L' D' L' D2 R F2 D' R2 B U

And another. All in my head.
B2 D F U2 L F L' U L' F' L R2 D F R F D' U' B F D B L2 R' U' B2 U2 F' D2 L2

2 B Forgiven AHA
twist 3 corners
Then edges
King Fred Got Very Proud In Every Open Revolt LAP

It doesn't have to make sense. It just has to be memorable. :)

The third solve:

4 Every Free Offer U 1 2 did the corners. Pretty easy.
O R 1 A Pretty Face? Just 4 Vic Ethan. Then flip I and 3.

Is this the first time I've done 3 solves in a row without messing up? Maybe. For sure without notes.

A Tough Solve. Four Cubes Discussed.

This scramble was really difficult for me to solve. I messed up originally because I mixed up a couple words. I changed the story a little to make it easier to recall. This one started with an edge 3-cycle which was quite easy and solved 3 of the edges right off. Then I went to the corners. But I tacked on an edge sentence as if it was a corner sentence. I tried to backtrack but messed up somehow and gave up. This morning I reviewed the story again and successfully solved it on the new Duncan cube.

B2 D U F' D U B' F2 L F' R D2 L2 B' F' D2 L2 R2 B D' F D U B D' U' F' D' B' R
cycle edges	L to S to C
Corners
I	Paul	Lengtat
Owe	Him	All	2
Edges
A	Great	1	Be	Yeshua
King	Eternal
2 (to)	Verily	Die

Of my 4 cubes the Duncan is my least favorite. I'm not sure if it is the stickers, or the lightness of the puzzle, or what. You would think I have a favorite of my other 3 but I don't. There is something about the Rubik's Cube with tiles that appeals to me even though it is sort of clunky and noisy. The carbon fiber Dreampark cube has a nice feel. And now that I have lubed the Zanchi I really like the way it feels. I don't like the way it looks as much as the other 3, but I like the absence of stickers when solving. I like the looks of the Dreampark cube except the light has to be right to distinguish the colors. So I guess I do not have one perfect cube. Does one exist? Probably not. Maybe I should pose the question online somewhere and see what others say.

Duncan Cube

Marae got me a new cube today. It is a Duncan speed cube. They are on sale at Staples for $5.00! Sweet!

My first impression? I like it. It is smooth right out of the box.

There is an FLCS student who has one. He wants to get together this week to see my collection and see if I have any tips on getting faster. He can solve the cube in 80 seconds. Did I mention he is only 6 years old?

Let's Try Corners First

In all my Eyes Closed Solving I have done edges first in every solve. Until today. I tried a solve but ended up with one corner swap needed at the end. After thinking about it I did the corners right off to see if I had it and did. Then I finished by doing all the edges. So it wasn't a "start to finish" eyes closed solve, but it gets me thinking. Maybe it would be easier to start with the corners because of the odd/even thing between corners and edges. Let's do a new scramble and see...

IVE = I've; WI = Why

D' L' R D U2 L2 U' L' B L F' R2 B L' R2 D' U2 R2 B' L2 F L2 U' B' R B F' L F U
I V E	Listened
Jesus	Gave	A	Reason
Know	Purity
Flip B
Steve	believes	Vic
WI	4
twist J and L

I don't have to do it all in my head. I made the story in the night but wanted to go back to sleep so jotted it down. This morning I reviewed it and did the solve. Notice that I combined 3 letters into one word on this one. And used WI to mean why.

Still Learning. Still Messing Up

B' D F' L' F2 L B' L U' R F' D2 L2 D' B2 R2 F2 R2 B D2 R' F' R F' U'
I tried again to do it without making notes. When I was finished there were two flipped edges and two twisted corners.

The edge was part of a 3-cycle. I need to quit doing 3-cycles and just stick to The Swapper.

The corners were due to a messup in analysis. There were an odd number of swaps. When I did K I used the down side of the corner instead of the side that would end up being where K was.

D2 B' U2 R' F2 D2 L' D2 L2 U2 R' D B L' F2 U' F R D' B' L F' L' F R'
The above must have been done in the wee hours of the morning on the 7th. Today I did another scramble, made some sentences and learned them as I made them, then proceeded right to the solve. First attempt I had 2 flipped edges. I looked at the other cube with the same scramble on it and double-checked the sentence that involved the flipped edge. Sure enough, I just messed up making up the sentence. I sent a piece to B instead of to O, resulting in the flip. So I tried again on that cube and got it right.

e-mail To The Boys—My BLD Edge Method Explained

Let's see if I can break it down into baby steps. Do you have a solved cube? 

1. Hold it with white on top and orange in front. 
2. Do Ri U R Ui R2. Remember what that means? R means Right clockwise. Ri means Right inverse or counterclockwise.
3. As you do R2 roll the cube so green is now in front. White is still on top.
4. Do Li Ui L U. 
5. As I do the final U I roll the cube so orange is on top and yellow is front.
6. Do R U Ri Ui R2.
7. As I do the R2 I roll the cube so orange is in front and white is up.
8. Do Ui.

The moves in steps 2, 4, 6, and 8 are each pretty simple and can be done quickly and smoothly. If you did it correctly only 4 pieces were affected. The 2 corners in back on the top swapped, and the right top edge and left top edge swapped. Doing steps 1-8 takes me less than 10 seconds.

Now let's talk about the edges. Roll the cube so blue is front and yellow on top. Where did the two swapped edges go? They are on the bottom. One in front; the other in back. Where did the two swapped corners go? They are on the bottom right. One in front; the other in back. I call the above algorithm The Swapper, for obvious reasons. We will get back to it in a bit, but first we need to name all the edge surfaces. I saw a couple different ways of doing it online but ended up with my own, slightly different, method of naming them.

A = yellow surface of the yellow green edge. That is, the one in the back on top.

B = yellow surface of the yellow red edge. That is, the one on the right on top.

C = yellow surface of the yellow blue edge.

D = yellow surface of the yellow orange edge.

Note that when I think of these surfaces I am also thinking about where they belong when solved. So A is the top surface of the top back edge. In other words, there is an A surface and an A location. On a solved cube all the surfaces are in their proper locations. On a scrambled cube most if not all the surfaces are not in their correct locations. Surface B may be at location L for example.

E, F, G, and H are all on the left side. E at top, F in front, G on bottom, and H in back, but all on the left face of the cube. So they are all orange the way I hold the cube.

I, J, K, and L are all blue. All on the front. I top, J right, K bottom, and L left.

O, P, R, S are all red. All on the right. O on top, then go clockwise as with the others.

U, V, W, Y are all green. All on the back. 

1, 2, 3, 4 are all white. All on the bottom. 1 in front, then go clockwise.

If you have related all of this to an actual cube I trust there is nothing confusing about it. Just trust me that to solve the cube with my eyes closed I had to name every surface of every edge of the cube. Now, remember The Swapper algorithm? What two edge surfaces got swapped? 1 and 3.

Now let's look at a scrambled cube. Let's say the green-red edge is at the bottom back with green down. In other words the surface at location 3 is Y. With 3 twists I can get the piece at Y to location 1. Then I roll the cube over so white is up and orange front and do The Swapper. Then I roll the cube back over so yellow is up and blue front and do 3 twists to put Y home. And now the piece at 3 is the one that started at Y. Let's say it is the red surface of the red-blue edge. That is S. 

Before I go on there is one very important thing I have not mentioned yet. The corners that get swapped by The Swapper have to be the same corners every time. That way those two corners just go back and forth as you solve the edges and don't move around the cube during the solve. So although it is possible to move S to 1 with one twist, that moves one of the corners out of place so you can't do that.

When I first started developing this method I put every piece to spot 1 to swap it with the piece at spot 3, but not long ago I realized there is a better way. There is not only a better way to get to spot 1 for some of the pieces, but I can also put a piece that needs to swap at A, move A to W and 3 to K with the inner vertical slice, do the Swapper, put things back, and it accomplishes the same thing only with easier and often fewer moves. 

So I can get S ready to swap with 4 moves. After the swap and putting everything back S is solved and the piece where S is, is now at 3. Let's say it is the piece that goes to V.

To solve the first 3 edges I have to remember Y S V, so I make up a little sentence that I can remember like Yolanda serves veggies. Then I close my eyes and move Y into position, swap, move Y home, move S into position, swap, move S home, move V into position, swap, move V home. And continue the process until all 12 edges are solved.

There are some things that can happen that complicate the process a little bit but once you get the hang of it it isn't that hard to deal with. Like what if the piece that lives at 3 is the next piece after V. Then it doesn't need to swap. It is already home. So you pick another piece that hasn't been solved yet and swap it to 3 then swap it to its home and continue the process. 

I'll tell you what. When you start with a scrambled cube, close your eyes, start twisting, and 10 minutes later you open your eyes and the cube is solved, it feels good.

Questions? Comments? Anyone inspired to dance?

The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

Usually after a victory I crash and burn. This time the defeat was not crash and burn style. What am I saying??? I had done two solves in a row without notes. I was going for #3. Sometimes the sentences fall together nicely with at least one pretty long one which is easy to remember. Not this time. I had lots of short ones. It took me 18 minutes to study the cube. I was hesitant but thought maybe I was ready. So I closed my eyes and went for it. 13 minutes later I opened them. The good news is that all the edges are solved. And half the corners are solved. But P and R need to swap. And L and W need to swap. I wonder if I can figure it out.

Joe 2 Alex
Lenny pushed him
twist I anti

I think that is what I did. Let's look at the scrambled state. It wasn't Lenny. It was 1. 1 pushed him is what it should have been. But why was there a double swap needed at the end? Why not just extra twisted corners? After doing Joe 2 Alex Lenny pushed him twist 1 anti sure enough L and P are twisted. Nothing is swapped. So I'm not sure what else I did wrong during the actual solve.

In case I ever decide to go back and try again, here is the scramble.

F U2 F2 D' B' F R2 B' D' B' L' U B2 F U B2 L2 F2 R2 B' F L' R F D' F D2 L2 D' F'

Two in a Row with No Notes

The last two solves have been done by looking at the cube making up and remembering the story as I go then immediately going into the solve.

D L' D R2 B' U B R' F' D' B2 R' U' B U' F R' B' L U
D' B2 D' L U F' U' B U R' F' L' U' B R' B R' B U R' D2 B2 R2 B R'

Those were the scrambles. I can't tell you the stories. Well, I might remember the second one if I tried, but I'm ready to go to a new scramble.

I already have two 6-yr old best friends: my granddaughters. Now I'm getting another one: Josiah Lidbeck, a student at FLCS who, along with his mother, has learned to solve the Cube. He can already solve it in 80 seconds and wants to get faster. He also wants to see my collection. So we plan to get together next Thursday. I'm lovin' it.

All In My Head and Backtracking Too!

Yesterday Marae and I went to Grass Valley. I put a scramble on a cube and made up a story for the edges and on my second attempt solved them. The amazing—amazing for me—thing was that I did not enter the story in my Sheet, or jot down notes at all. Then I made a story for the corners and solved them. Again it was all in my head. Then I forgot about it. I was pretty wiped out yesterday afternoon from the heat and the trip home from CZ. Well... I woke up around midnight and put the scramble back on the cube. I remembered the edge story, recreated the corner story, and solved the whole cube with my eyes closed and all in my head! 

Now for the crazy part. On the corners after doing 3 corners it hit me that I had started with the wrong corner. I should have done JBW, but I had done VBW, which would just scramble them more, so to fix it I did WBV and started over with J. It worked!

It's A Whole New Ball Game

So it still isn't crystal clear what goes where in a swap and how to turn a series of swaps at the end into a 3-cycle. So I started to experiment with a solved cube. But then I got sidetracked by a whole new idea. Instead of getting an edge surface to position 1 to do the swap, what if I got it to A then moved the M slice down in the back to put A and 3 on the bottom for the swap? It makes setting up the swap quicker and easier in a lot of the cases.

L' F2 L D' B U' R F' L' F2 R U' R2 B' L2 U' L' U' L U' F' R' D' B' R' U2
Lenny	passed	short	cake	2	Vic
Oscar	didn't	always	cycle 13	grapes
Choose	any	1	please
cycle	Four	Hundred	3
U F' R' F2 L' D R D B2 U' L2 F' D L' F' U' L D' L F L' U2 B D F
Flip	Eats	Green	veggies	known	as
IO	peas
Steve	fries	eggs-x
Henry	eats-x	2	doughnuts	Lenny	stole
PRO clock

No. I did not attempt to solve two cubes with my eyes closed. Maybe someday, but not soon. Annie wanted to do a scramble and story with me after nap time but I didn't want to wait so had two going at once, but then she went shopping and I ended up doing both stories anyway. I don't think I solved the second one start to finish. I forgot corner 2, so when I opened my eyes I was one swap short of a complete solve.

The top one was one I tried earlier with a more complicated story and never got. This morning I nailed it. Sometimes commutators make it quicker and easier, like today. Sometimes I get really confused. I guess I should just use them when they are straightforward without any complicated setup moves.

Getting Faster? No. Now I Can't Even Get A Solve!

This one is giving me fits. I thought I needed to slow down and be careful and that it would be more satisfying to get a solve than to rush it and fail again. But even going slow I messed up. I'm pretty sure I messed up on the Swapper. I forgot to R2 in the first part. But instead of stopping immediately I went too far to back it up and get back on track. That makes me wonder. If S is the Swapper algorithm, what is Si? I checked it out. I kept messing up and got tired of trying it.

By the way, the scramble that is giving me fits?

D' U2 F2 L B2 D2 U2 R D' R U B D L2 R2 U2 B' D2 U' R2 B2 R2 U R2 U2 L D' L' R F'
Everyone	gets	real	valuables
All	followers	of	Jesus
In	praise	kneel	unto
Unto	Christ the	Lord
Victors	kneel	humbly
despicable	villains

I wonder if it is the story? Maybe if the story wasn't so deep it would be easier to focus on the solve.

Obviously I'm in that stage of learning this method where I am trying to get comfortable with it but ain't there yet. One day I think I've got it and am improving, then the next day it is like I am not even close.

Picking Up Speed

Annie helped me make the story for this solve. It didn't take long at all to memorize. Like a minute or so. Then the solve took 10.5 minutes. I used the Rubik's Cube this time. It is not as smooth as the Dreampark cube I got with carbon stickers.

D B' L2 U' B' D' L D' F' U L B U' F' L F U R U L' B' D' R' D' R'
Vic's	1	duck	squirts	on	frogs
4	2	pigs	in	an	instant
Steve	jumps	home	from
under	Vic's	giant	eggs

Perhaps I Should Reconsider

Yesterday I came up with a commutator heavy solution for a new scramble. I tried to pull it off tonight without having a clear plan for how to do the edge commutators. Bad idea. I either need to plan the commutators out better, or stick with the Swapper technique.

One thing I did today was to think about the setup moves I use for corners.

			5		6
			4		5
4		3	4		4	3		4	4		3
4		4	4		5	7		x	x		5
			5
			4		x

The numbers signify how many moves it is to get to 2. The colors show sides and which spot is being used to set it up. F, I, O, or V.

Here is what I tried to do.

B U' B L' D' B L D' R U L U' F2 U R' U B2 U R' F'
Flip F and H
All	Jesus	knows	you	don't
cycle G F 3	Carl cycles	good	for	3 but
cycle O R V		Oscar	really	vacuums
Follow	1	only
Li D L Ui ...	A to B to 3
2 w s

I think I will convert it to using less commutators and try again.

July 30, 2017
This morning I translated it to no commutators and plan to try this.

All	Jesus	knows	you	don't
Carl	got	forgiven
Oscar	realized	Vic	believes
Follow	1	only.	everybody	understand?
2	were	saved

Maybe when I get really good at this I will decide I don't want to move on to using commutators. Maybe I will feel like trying them when I am back to my quiet peaceful lifestyle. We'll see. Maybe I should get really good at BLD solving with no commutators, then make a walk-through / tutorial video, then think about incorporating commutators.

Later on July 30, 2017
I got it using my carbon fiber cube and Raymond says I did it in around 7 minutes. That is about half the time I usually take. At least the few times I timed it.