How do you solve the Skewb?

[ Editor: from a web page "The Skewb", part of a "Simplest Solutions"
site at http://www.victoria.tc.ca/~ue451/solves.html; the author is
not named on the page. ]

Combinations: 25,194,240
Mechanism: 6 armed spider (best guess)

Don't let the large number fool you.  Next to the stupid cube (a
Rubik's Cube knockoff that had the same colour on ALL sides, effectively
turning it into a 1x1x1), this is probably going to be the lowest
combination you will EVER find on a puzzle of this type.  The Skewb is
unique among the cubic puzzles in that the turning axis IS NOT parallel
to the edges of the puzzle.  Instead, each side looks like this:
                        ______
                        | /\ |
                        |/  \|
                        |\  /|
                        |_\/_|

This puzzle is deceptively simple looking.  At first glance, it appears
as though each of the corners turn independently, which would give it a
trivial solution.  Instead, each turn slices the Skewb in half
diagonally, affecting ALL of the sides at the same time, giving it a
much more intimidating appearance than it really is.

NOTATION

Given each side of the Skewb gives the appearance of a compass pointing
in the 4 cardinal directions, I'll refer to them that way, with North
pointing directly away from you, ie.
                              /\
                             /NN\
                            ------
                           /|    |\
                          /W|    |E\
                          \W|    |E/
                           \|    |/
                            ------
                             \SS/
                              \/

Each move will be presented as a compass direction followed by a + or
-.  Unlike the other solutions presented here, a + will mean move the
slice FORWARD and a - will mean move the slice BACKWARD.  Effectively,
what this means is that a + is a counterclockwise turn for lefties and
a clockwise turn for righties.  (blah blah)^N means perform (blah blah)
N times.

THE SOLUTION

The Top Side

To start, pick a centre.  First of all, move any corners with that
colour from the bottom slice to the top.  Make sure that the cubes are
moved into their proper positions instead of their direct opposites.
For example, if you're working with green, then the two cubes with
yellow should be on the same side when the corners are oriented
correctly.  If they won't, then you'll need to switch them with
N+ S- N+, N- S+ N-, S+ N- S+, or S- N+ S-.

Now that they're in the proper positions, they'll need to be oriented
properly.

       LEFTIES (rotate W)       RIGHTIES (rotate E)

+         W+ N+ W- N- OR            E+ N+ E- N- OR
          S- W- S+ W+               S- E- S+ E+
-         W- S- W+ S+ OR            E- S- E+ S+ OR
          N+ W+ N- W-               N+ E+ N- E-

Perform these patterns as many times as necessary to complete the top
layer.  Pick whichever patterns you're most comfortable with.

The Bottom Corners

Now that the top side is completed, let's get to work on the bottom.
One of the really neat things about the Skewb is that once the pieces
are positioned correctly in the top layer, then by default, they're
automatically positioned correctly in the bottom layer, too.  Flip your
Skewb over now, and we'll get the corners oriented properly.

       LEFTIES (rotate W and...)      RIGHTIES (rotate E and...)

N+      (N+ W+)^3 OR (W+ N+)^3          (N+ E+)^3 OR (E+ N+)^3
N-      (N- W-)^3 OR (W- N-)^3          (N- E-)^3 OR (E- N-)^3
S+      (S+ W+)^3 OR (W+ S+)^3          (S+ E+)^3 OR (E+ S+)^3
S-      (S- W-)^3 OR (W- S-)^3          (S- E-)^3 OR (E- S-)^3

If opposite corners are rotated, simply combine patterns, eg. If the
pattern you need is N+ S-, then simply pick an N+ S- combo of your
choice.  You will never have 2 adjacent corners rotated by themselves,
unless you somehow managed to take apart your Skewb and put it back
together wrong.  Don't panic when you see your hard won side 1 being
scrambled during this stage.  When all the corners are rotated properly
on side 2, side 1's corners will also be rotated properly once again.
It's yet another neat thing about the Skewb.

The Centres

OK, now that you've got side 1 and all the corners done, it's time to
solve the centres.  In this stage, I'll refer to the faces by number.
For lefties, the faces are numbered counter clockwise, starting from
NW=1.  Righties, count clockwise starting from NE=1.  In either case,
the bottom/back face is always 5.

                          LEFTIES                         RIGHTIES

A. 1 <--> 5, 2 <--> 3     (W+ S+ W- S-)^3 OR              (E+ S+ E- S-)^3 OR
                          (S+ W+ S- W-)^3 OR S- (B) S+ OR (S+ E+ S- E-)^3

B. 1 <--> 2, 3 <--> 5     (W- S- W+ S+)^3 OR              (E- S- E+ S+)^3 OR
                          (S- W- S+ W+)^3 OR              (S- E- S+ E+)^3 OR
                             W+ (A) W-                       E+ (A) E-

The rest of the centre moves are basic combinations of these 2.

C. 1 <--> 4, 2 <--> 3                   N- (A) N+ OR S- (B) S+

D. 1 <--> 3, 2 <--> 4    W- (A) W+ OR W+ (B) W-         E- (A) E+ OR E+ (B) E-

E. 1 <--> 3, 2 <--> 5        W- (A) W+     OR (A) (B) OR     E- (A) E+

F. 5 --> 4 --> 1 --> 5                     (A) N- (A) N+

G. 5 --> 1 --> 4 --> 5                     (A) N+ (A) N-

The final pattern, H, is a bit more complicated.  First, perform F,
then rotate the whole cube in the - direction.  Finally, do A, and
rotate the cube back.  This has the effect of 2 --> 1 --> 4 --> 2.  To
reverse it, simply flip the cube upside down so that the centres are
now moving as 4 --> 1 --> 2 --> 4.  Then perform pattern H again.

                       C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !

You have now solved your Skewb!  Remember, in order to master it, it's
NOT necessary to memorise ALL of these patterns, just the ones you feel
best working with.  You really should only need to memorise about 5
patterns at most.  The rest you should be able to derive easily enough
on the fly.  Before I go, I'd like to share a Skewb pattern with you,
which you may have seen on the Rubik's Cube.  If not, you're in for a
real treat.  Lefties OR righties, + is towards you, - is away:

W- (E- W+)^22 E+

The solution is left up to the reader.  Hey, I can't do ALL your work
for you! :-) Now that you've become a Skewb master in your own right,
try making up some of your own patterns (hint: patterns F and G on
opposite sides of the Skewb should be intimately familiar with Cube
lovers).  Most of all HAVE FUN!