At 3:09 PM 6/7/96, Norman Richards wrote:
> Here is a quick overview of my solution:
>
> 1. do the top face. 4 corners then any 3 edges. (intuitive)
> 2. align bottom corner pieces. (pattern)
> 3. rotate bottom corner pieces so the correct color is showing (pattern)
> 4. place the remaining 4 bottom edges and the missing top edge (intuitive)
> 5. put the 4 middle edge pieces in the correct positions (intuitive)
> 6. rotate edge pieces as needed (pattern)

my method:

1. do top corners. I always start with white. (intuitive)
2. do bottom corners.
2a. bring bottom corner color onto bottom face (one of 2 patterns)
2b. orient bottom corners with each other (one of 2 patterns)
3. fill in all but one edge on top and bottom (intuitive)
4. fill in last edge (pattern)
5. solve middle ring of edges (usually 2 patterns)

The only person I have ever met used this same method was Minh,
the winner of the first U.S. championship. The only differences between
our methods was that he had more patterns memorized for step 5. I
typically do one pattern, which gets me close, and then finish it up
with one more pattern - where Minh could look at that last ring and
instantly know a pattern that would bring the cube into it's final
solved state. His hands were also a lot faster than mine.

The beauty of this method is that there is very little to memorize -
and although it doesn't give me very many 20 second times, it's
always well under a minute. In both steps 2a and 2b, one of the
two pattern options comes up more than 90% of the time - and
you can just do that pattern twice if you want, so you really only
have to know one pattern if you are willing to loose a few seconds
10% of the time. Since the pattern in step 4 is one of the patterns
in step 5, my solution can get you a solved cube reasonably quickly
with only 4 memorized patterns. And with a bit more memorization
it can begin to screeeeeem. For some reason I haven't really had much
need for speed solving these days - under a minute is just fine to keep
up my reputation.

-K.