How to scramble & solve a clock

Let's start off with the basics.
Clocks are made out of 3 things: Faces, Pins and Dials. 

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Faces

Faces are what you are trying to solve on a clock. There are nine on each side.

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Pins

Pins are the things that are in between the faces. There are 4 pins on every clock and they are located on both sides. These are used to change which faces are turned.

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Dials

Dials are the wheels on the sides of the clock, they’re normally black and there are 4 on every clock.

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So what is considered solved?

When all faces are pointing to twelve. We can tell this by the arrows on the faces pointing up towards the 12. This can be different on clocks but it often is a yellow circle with the number 12 inside of it.

There are 3 different 'Faces' to a clock

  • Corners - These are located directly above and below the dials. These are directly linked, so if one corner is solved it will be solved on both sides.

  • Edges - These are located in between 2 corners. They are not linked on the front and back of the clock. If one side of the clock has solved edges, it does not mean the back edges are solved.

  • Center/s - There is only one on each side and it is the face that is in the center of the clock. You are ALWAYS moving one center, no matter the positioning of your pins.

Pin Positioning - Tips & advice

This can be hard to grasp at first but it gets easier the more you think about it.

First things first, if a pin is down, do not turn the dial closest to it, as that will affect the faces on the other side.

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When a pin is up, the four faces around it will turn when you turn the dial closest to that pin. If two pins are up, any face around those pins will also turn. For example, if we were to push the top 2 pins up, which faces do you think will turn when we rotate the UL or UR dials? If you said the top 6 faces (or top 2 rows, then you would be correct).

If three pins are up, all but one corner will turn and so you can use any of the three dials closest to a pin that’s up to turn. If all 4 pins are up, all 9 faces will turn.

How to scramble A Clock

Let's start with some scrambling rules/basics

  • Clock scrambles always start with 12 pointing up
  • You can start scrambling from either side of the clock
  • Each pin has its own name
  • You always move the dial(s) that have there adjacent pin UP (IMPORTANT)

Okay, Let's start with Pin Names. Each pin has its own name just as each face on a speed cube has a letter associated with it (a notation), think of the pin names as a notation.

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UL - Up Left          UR - Up Right          DL - Down Left          DR - Down Right


If your scramble says UR4+ you would perform 4 turns clockwise on the top-right dial making sure that the UR pin was pushed up and all the rest were down. The + or - after the number in any scramble is the direction of rotation of the dial. 

UR2+  Clockwise          UR2-  Anti-clockwise

The official WCA Scramble generator uses 0+ moves. This just means to skip the move. For example you might see, U0+, this simple means move the TOP 2 dials 0 in a clockwise rotation (so just skip it). 

You may sometimes encounter moves such as U, R, D or L with numbers after it and the same + or - symbol. This simply means you use both pins on that side of the clock (have them pointed up). L2- would mean both pins on the left hand side (UL and DL) would be pointed up whilst the 2 pins on the right hand side (UR and DR) were pushed down. Again, you must ALWAYS make sure that you are turning the dial that is next to an UP position pin.

ALL just means that you move all of the pins up and turn any dial the number or moves in the direction stated (ALL4+)

y2 indicates to flip the clock so the other side is facing you and 12 is still at the top

Try this scramble:
UR3+ DR3+ DL2+ UL6+ U0+ R0+ D2+ L3+ ALL3- y2 U5- R6+ D2+ L2+ ALL5-

How to Solve the Clock

Clocks are solved in 3 steps:

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First we solve the first cross

How to solve a rubik's clock - Cross Two | KewbzUK Speed Cubes & Guides

Then we solve the second cross

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Then we solve the corners