Display first 2 flex items centered to each other and top aligned

Question

I am trying to center align the first 2 blocks to each other (the blocks with a purple border) and have all 3 boxes top aligned. I have achieved this using display: inline-flex, but would it be possible to have the same results using just display: flex?

Fiddle

.container {
  font-size: 0;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

.blocks {
  display: inline-flex;
}

.blocks-left {
  align-items: center;
  width: 66%;
  vertical-align: top;
  border: 2px solid purple;
}

.blocks-right {
  width: 33%;
}

.block {
  width: 100%;
}

#block-1 {
  background: red;
  height: 100px;
}

#block-2 {
  background: blue;
  height: 200px;
}

#block-3 {
  background: green;
  height: 400px;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="blocks blocks-left">
    <div id="block-1" class="block"></div>
    <div id="block-2" class="block"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="blocks blocks-right">
   <div id="block-3" class="block"></div>
   </div>
</div> 

Answer 1

If you want to change blocks to block-level display: flex, you can get the same result if you make your container a flexbox and add align-self: flex-start to the blocks-left element - see demo below:

.container {
  font-size: 0;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  display: flex; /* added */
}

.blocks {
  display: flex; /* now flex instead of inline-flex */
}

.blocks-left {
  align-items: center;
  align-self: flex-start; /* added */
  width: 66%;
  vertical-align: top;
  border: 2px solid purple;
}

.blocks-right {
  width: 33%;
}

.block {
  width: 100%;
}

#block-1 {
  background: red;
  height: 100px;
}

#block-2 {
  background: blue;
  height: 200px;
}

#block-3 {
  background: green;
  height: 400px;
}

<div class="container">
  <div class="blocks blocks-left">
    <div id="block-1" class="block"></div>
    <div id="block-2" class="block"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="blocks blocks-right">
   <div id="block-3" class="block"></div>
   </div>
</div>