An hour of banging my head against the wall over the course of a couple months. 8 minutes today, found a new idea to arrive at 2 off and finally solved.
Really, really fun level.
I was 2 off since more than a year. Today, I come back to it and I solve it on 2nd try... Can't believe it somehow. :D
Levels with lot of freedom like this one, with lot of different routes coming close, are always very difficult to me. Am happy!
The solution seems to combine all the parts you were thinking of but tried in all different routes. (that are usually 2 off :P)
EDIT: rebeaten. Love this one!
This level takes quite a bit of poking and prodding, and then there are a still quite a few 2 offs which feel pretty good, one of them in particular extremely satisfying. Don't understand why the solution is 2 faster, but it's also pretty satisfying. The design of this level is monstrous.