Date:  8 December 1980 1117-EST (Monday)
From: Guy.Steele at CMU-10A
To: ddyer at USC-ISIB
Subject:  Re: That 28 move Plummer Cross
CC: cube-lovers at MIT-MC
In-Reply-To:  Dave Dyer's message of 6 Dec 80 17:28-EST
Message-Id: <08Dec80 111740 GS70@CMU-10A>

The position halfway through the cycle of a permutation need not
be a local maximum, since moves other than the permutation cycle
might take it further away.  It is more like a saddle point (most
positions probably are in that class: at least two moves take
it closer, and at least two take it further).
There is one symmetric position which is not a local maximum:
the solved state!