Message #1549

From: Andrey <andreyastrelin@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Magic Tile {8,3} 6 Colors, 3 Layers, Slicing factor = 1.15 solved
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:21:21 -0000

Hi Nan,
I think it’s good idea. I think that any puzzle of this kind deserves a line in records page. Just change "Size" column to "Size, factor" and add a line with "3, 1.15" there.
Strange thing is that, say, for {8,3}, 12 colors you can play with factors 1.15 and 1.4, but not with 1.25. Probably it’s a bug in the program.
One of nice puzzles is {6,3}, factor=1.3 - where circles meet in centers. With 4 colors I solved it in 2 twists, but 16 or 25 colors may be funny.

Andrey

— In 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com, "schuma" <mananself@…> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> The puzzle I’m talking is illustrated here:
>
> http://wwwmwww.com/Puzzle/MagicTile/3x3x3UDRF.png
>
> I came to this puzzle because Carl talked about it in the Twistypuzzles forum <http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20697&p=251131#p251131>, and I just learned that I could change the "slicing circles expansion factor" to make deeper cuts. I set it to 1.15 and solved the puzzle. The log file has been posted here: <http://wiki.superliminal.com/wiki/User:Schuma#Octa_6col_length3_115>.
>
> This puzzle is essentially Gelatinbrain 3.1.31, except the centers are normal 3x3x3 centers. Here the edge pieces are quite special. They cannot be found in regular 3x3x3. Solving them is quite challenging for me. This is a nice, compact and hard puzzle to solve.
>
> Note that: for expansion factor = 1, {8,3} 6 colors is equivalent to Rubik’s cube. However, for expansion factor = 1.15, {8,3} 6 colors is not equivalent to Rubik’s cube with any expansion factor, because of different geometries.
>
> I think some puzzles with slicing expansion factor>1 are quite neat (as long as they turn properly) and can be regarded as standard challenges. What are the other nice puzzles with special challenges? We may put some to the wiki records page.
>
> Nan
>