From hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil  Thu Dec 12 10:29:25 1991
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 10:29:04 EST
From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil
Message-Id: <9112121529.AA02722@sun13.aic.nrl.navy.mil>
To: ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie Kon)
Subject: Rubik's cube dice tops
Cc: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu

ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie Kon) writes:

> An original Sam Loyd puzzle involving the Rubik's cube has come into
> my hands; somewhat surprising, in that Sam Loyd died in the early
> years of this century, but no more so than the truly astounding
> circumstances by which the puzzle came to me, which I would detail
> if I believe that anyone were interested.

Hmm.  A likely story.

We are challenged to find ``tops'',

> ... dice which are misspotted, by having only three different
> numbers on them, each appearing opposite to itself ... spotted
> 1-2-3, ... from a standard cube in 14 moves.

Where he counts a half turn, a slice, and and a half-slices as one
move each.  I have found how this can be done in 13 such moves.  I
have some suspicion that it can be done in 12; I'll let you know.

We are then challenged to convert this

> ... into 2-3-4 tops ... in only 3 moves.

The second part can be solved by any person who achieves mastery of
the cube.

Dan Hoey
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil