Message #3012

From: Joseph Snyder <josephsnyderchina@yahoo.com>
Subject: Hello, Joseph here.
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 19:49:24 -0700

Hi! I’m 20 years old, been solving rubik’s cubes for about 5-6 years. Right now I am living in New Jersey. I grew up in China, my parents are linguists. Hobbies include juggling, running, playing ping pong. I also like philosophy (deep complicated questions).

Just recently came across the 4D puzzle. Thought it looked crazy, decided to give it a shot. Ever since I saw the puzzle, I really wanted to figure out a solution on my own. I watched a video (probably the only one out there), explaining how the puzzle worked. I then understood that it functioned like a normal 3x3 in the respect that each piece had it’s own place.

Since I never learned how commutators worked, I applied ideas from the normal 3x3 solving method. I solved 1 cube (the blue one) first, and brought that to the bottom. I solved the middle layers of the 4 (middle?) cubes next. I then connected all the green pieces to the green center. Then it was just like solving a 3x3.
Not so good at explaining. If you have any questions, let me know.

I was fairly confident I could figure it out, since I had figured out how to solve the normal 4x4 and 5x5 on my own (excluding the parities). It just took a bit of patience and willingness to sit and stare and think.

I also like making anagrams. Here’s one -

"The four dimensional Rubik’s cube."
=
"Make crude, rubbish solution? Fine."

Well, I think the next thing for me is the 4d 4x4.