Dubbed "Over the Top," the 17x17x17 cube is a special one created in 2011 by Dutch puzzle designer Oskar van Deventer.
How much time did the guy need to solve the puzzle? Nearly eight hours. Anyone who has that much time to spare can watch the full video.
One comment says:
I didnt watch the video so maybe my question would be answered in the video but ill ask it anyway. I dont solve these kind of puzzles but i am wondering about how the cube looks like in the beginning when you are just starting it. How do you know that the position of every square is placed such that it would require the most moves to complete? How can you set the cube up so that it would be the same for everyone else when you are trying to set up a world record? What if what someone starts with would require less moves than someone else since the cube is less random? Im not even sure how you could solve that answer or whether or not there is a way to do that but i am curious on how it would be done.
According to RedKB, the best way to solve it is using “reduction method”, which begins by solving the center first before solving the edges. The Verge quotes RedKB, “The way you solve a 17 by 17 is just like you would a seven by seven, or a five by five. If you can solve one of those then the 17 by 17 isn’t that hard, but it is very, very tedious.”