Negative Time Solving Contest 2011
Partial Results
Accompaning Speedsolving.com thread and Francocube thread
It's that time of the year again! This is your only chance of the year to solve a cube in negative time as day light saving (DST) ends and time falls back one hour. DST (Daylight Saving Time) ends at 3am on Sunday, October 30 in many European countries. In most parts of the United States and Canada, DST ends at 2am on Sunday, November 6. See Time and Date.com to check the clock change schedule in your area. Results from Europe will NOT be posted until the results from North America come in a week later.
The Contest
This challenge statement from 2004 by then-Caltech undergrad Tyson Mao pretty much explains it (original forum post).
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There is only one day of the year where one can leave the drudgery of Caltech academic life and sprint off for a chili burger, chili dog, and chili fries in a timely manner. A very timely manner indeed... so timely that one can actually return before he departs. This is the way of the Negative-Time Tommy's run. On one day of the year, a little bit before the first 2 AM, Caltech students hop in their cars and make a dash for the original Tommy's in Beverly Hills for some items with a lot of chili. The goal is to simply return before you left. If you are skilled, you may attempt the trifecta which consists of the burger with extra chili, the hot dog with extra chili, and the fries with extra chili. Last year, I missed achieving negative time because of an accident on Highway 101. Our total time was 4 minutes. Of course, last year, I did achieve negative time cubing at a time of negative 59 minutes and 1 second. (I was not very fast back then.) I challenge all of you to take part in the negative time solving tradition. We will have a website with the one, yes only ONE scramble which you will use for this entire year. The date I believe will be October 31, 2004. |
The Rules
By submitting your time(s), you indicate your compliance to the following rules:
- Use the provided algorithm(s). As usual, take up to 15 seconds of inspection per solve.
- Begin every solve before daylight saving ends and complete every solve after it ends in your time zone. In the United States, for example, you must begin every solve (start the timer and turn the cube, not just inspection) before the first 2 AM and end every solve after the second 1 AM.
- Don't be an idiot! This is an unofficial contest. Please follow all rules you would when submitting a record to speedcubing.com.
For example, if you start at 1:59:55 and end at 1:00:07, record your time as -59 min 48 sec. Rule 2 means that you can compete in multiple events at the cost of some extra time in each of your solves (except one). A fun category would be "most cubes solved blindfolded in a negative time." The entire solve must be done within an hour, so you first have to decide on the number of cubes to attempt and think about when to start memorizing.
Thanks to Tyson Mao for bringing this great Caltech tradition to cubing. Good luck to everyone!
Useful tools for US cubers: The Official U.S. Time, Atomic Clock Time.
The Scrambles
This is the ONLY main Negative Time Solving Scramble for 2011. Do not use this scramble before the real attempt.
The following are additional 3x3 algorithms to be used only for 3x3 multi-BLD
- U2 B2 L2 F' D U' B' R' D2 U B F' L D2 F2 D2 U' F' R B' F' D U2 L R2 U2 F D' U2 R'
- U2 L U' L2 B' L' D2 F' L' D2 L' U F2 R U2 L F L F' D B2 F2 L D2 R B U2 L' R2 U2
- U2 F U' F D' F' D F L2 B D' R B' F' U' L' R2 D2 U B2 L2 R' B F2 R B' R2 D' U' F
- D2 L' R2 D R2 F U B' F U2 B2 R' F2 D' F' U F L' R F D2 U2 F D U2 B2 D' B D' F
- R B U' L2 R' B' U L2 R U2 B' R2 U R' U R2 U' L U2 L R D F2 L' U2 B' R B F' R2
- L D2 L B' L2 D2 B F L B2 U' B' D' L2 R' U2 R2 U2 L' D2 U2 L B L2 R B' U' B' L R
- L' R D F2 L2 D' F2 R2 B2 R F' L' R U' B D B2 F U' F2 D2 U R' U2 B R D2 U' F U2
- R2 D' R F R' U2 B2 D U L' R2 B F L D2 B2 D L2 B F2 U' B' F2 U B2 L' B2 R' U' F'
- L' U' R' U F' D' U F' D' L' F2 R' D' U2 B2 D' B F L' B' D U L2 R' B' L R' U2 R' D'
- B F2 R2 U' L2 R' D' L' B' F R2 F D' B' L' R' D' B L D' L2 R B2 F' U L' B2 L2 D' R
- D B L2 B' F2 L R D' L2 R B' F' D2 L2 R F' L B' L2 D2 U' F' L' B2 F L R' D2 R2 F
- L2 R2 B R2 F' D' U2 L R2 F R' B U F D F2 D2 F' L' B R2 D U2 R2 U B L D2 L' R'
- D' U F' L2 R2 F U' L2 D U F2 R' U L' D' L' U R D2 F' R B' D R' B' D' F D2 U2 F
- L2 F D' U' L2 R2 U2 B L R B' D' U2 R B' F D2 U' B' L2 R' B' F' L' F' R2 B D' U' L'
- F' D R' F' U B2 D2 B2 R
- B' U' Rw Fw L2 Rw2 B Fw' D' U2 F U' Uw' L2 R B' U' B' Uw U2 L' F D2 B2 Rw' Fw F2 D' B2 L Uw' Fw Rw D2 B' F2 Fw' Uw2 Fw' D'
- U2 Lw2 U2 Lw F Uw F2 R2 Fw' F2 D2 R Bw Dw' Bw' Rw' F R2 U L2 U L2 Lw2 Bw' Lw' Bw Fw2 R' F2 Uw' U' B Uw Rw D' F U2 Lw R Uw' D R' L' Fw' L Uw' D Dw' L2 F' R' Dw2 Fw2 F' D Bw' L Dw2 U Fw
Please let me know on the forum if you would like me to generate scrambles for some other puzzle. Or you can scramble other puzzles on your own.
Submit your results
The Results
There were 29 participants representing 5 countries. Of these, 1 participated in Europe and the rest were from North America.
3x3 Speedsolve
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Brooks | USA | -59 minutes, 51.08 seconds | |
| 2 | Vincent Sheu | USA | -59 minutes, 48.16 seconds | Happy Birthday Lars! |
| 3 | Felix Lee | USA | -59 minutes, 46.35 seconds | |
| 4 | Jeremy Fleischman | USA | -59 minutes, 46.28 seconds | Trinidad Scorpion Butch T |
| 4 | Joseph Skyler | USA | -59 minutes, 46.28 seconds | Trinidad Scorpion Butch T |
| 6 | Evan Liu | USA | -59 minutes, 45.85 seconds | |
| 7 | Sylvie Tran | USA | -59 minutes, 45.58 seconds | |
| 8 | Justin | USA | -59 minutes, 45.37 seconds | argh. Could have been around 47 rather than 45. |
| 9 | Steven Xu | USA | -59 minutes, 45.29 seconds | |
| 10 | devin corr-robinett | USA | -59 minutes, 45.12 seconds | It's cold, wet, and depressing today |
| 11 | Anthony Hsu | USA | -59 minutes, 44.81 seconds | Did an orange cross...and then couldn't find any pairs after it. |
| 12 | Not Kevin Young | USA | -59 minutes, 44.77 seconds | so bad T_T should've done square-1 |
| 13 | Jack Cowart | USA | -59 minutes, 43.76 seconds | Very good solve for me! It had an OLL I learned an hour ago :) ~Jaycee |
| 14 | Arthur Adams | USA | -59 minutes, 43 seconds | |
| 15 | Darren Kwong | USA | -59 minutes, 42.75 seconds | |
| 16 | Chia-Wei Lu | Taiwan | -59 minutes, 40.87 seconds | |
| 17 | James Yang | USA | -59 minutes, 39.01 seconds | Yay PB! Weeeeeeeee that was fun :D |
| 18 | Stewart Stewart | USA | -59 minutes, 38.87 seconds | Submitted my times before the contest even started 8D |
| 19 | Greg Van Gorp | USA | -59 minutes, 38.63 seconds | So close to sub 20! |
| 20 | Lars Petrus | Sweden | -59 minutes, 32.41 seconds | |
| 21 | Daniel Lo | USA | -59 minutes, 29 seconds | |
| 22 | Alex | USA | -59 minutes, 05 seconds | |
| 23 | Zach Van Gorp | USA | -59 minutes, 01.56 seconds | |
| 24 | Alexander Irpan | USA | -58 minutes, 58 seconds | Yeah, I'm not very fast, but I was up anyways :P |
| 25 | Milos Nikolic | Montenegro | -58 minutes, 56 seconds |
3x3 Blindfolded
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shelley Chang | USA | -58 minutes, 21.89 seconds | |
| 2 | Stefan Pochmann | Germany | -56 minutes, 2.31 seconds | |
| 3 | Daniel Lo | USA | DNF (-53 minutes) |
4x4 Multi-BLD
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Hardwick | USA | 4/4 (-2 minutes, 55.08 seconds | Yay! I got 3/4 last year, so I was REALLY excited to open my eyes to 4 solved cubes this year! :) |
Team Speed BLD
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | Ravi Fernando and Lucas Garron | USA/Germany (done in USA) | DNF (-58 minutes, 18.56 seconds) | Off by a 3-cycle because we both thought Bruno cycled edges clockwise rather than counterclockwise. Memo was around 40 minutes. |
Square-1
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shari Kuroyama | USA | -58 minutes, 24.12 seconds | I actually recognized the orientation yay~~ |