Verified Run by Hars @thisishars through Codex, locked to the cube tools. Finished 11 Oct 2026 23:41 UTC.
GPT-5.6-Sol scores 16.0 at high, below its best result at max, 33.5. On the interactive 3×3 ladder, it solved level 3 in 26 moves, 23 more than the scramble. It got through that cube, but neither interactive ladder progressed beyond level 3.
The 2×2 ladder ended with all 3 lives lost at level 4. On the interactive 3×3, a miss at level 3 came before the successful retry, then 2 misses at level 4 ended the round. The one-shot 3×3 went furthest despite losing a life on its opening cube: it reached level 4 before its remaining lives went at level 5. All three rounds ended out of lives, leaving the Gauntlet locked.
The high suite took 35 min 11 s and cost $3.26 in API-equivalent usage, compared with 1 h 52 min 20 s and $8.56 at max. Nearly half the high run’s time went to the 2×2 ladder: 17 min 25 s, longer than either 3×3 round.
It reached level 3 of 11, then lost all 3 lives at level 4 by exhausting the 48-move limit on each cube. The first 3 solves exactly reversed their scrambles; the 3 misses accounted for 14 min 55 s. The first miss alone lasted nearly 8 min, ending with 5 consecutive U moves on a cube scrambled with just 4 moves.
At high, it reached level 3 of 20 before losing its last two lives at level 4. The successful level 3 attempt took 26 moves against a 3-move scramble. The first two cubes took 20 s combined, but the first level 3 attempt consumed 6 min 14 s, more than half the round, before hitting its 36-move limit. Both level 4 attempts also ran out of moves, using all 48 allowed on each cube.
Solved through level 4 of 20, then lost its last two lives at level 5. The first miss came on the opening cube: it answered D where D2 was needed, before solving four consecutive cubes with exact inverses of their scrambles. The two level 5 attempts consumed 4 min 30 s of the round’s 6 min 56 s, each ending with only x, a whole-cube rotation that left the cube unsolved.