The yellow cross

Only yellow matters

Two layers are solved; the top is all that's left. For now we'll forget every color except yellow, which is why the other stickers have turned gray. For the first time you'll look at the cube not as a collection of pieces but as a picture: recognize the pattern and you know what to do. The goal of this step is a yellow cross on the top face — the yellow center plus the four edges around it, yellow side up.

The top face will show you one of four patterns:

• dot — only the center is yellow;
• L-shape — the center and two neighboring edges, like a letter L;
• line — the center and two opposite edges, a stripe straight across the face;
• cross — all four. You're done.

Corners don't count in this step. A yellow corner on top means nothing, so look only at the edges, the pieces between the corners. Right now the cube is showing an L-shape.

One algorithm for every pattern

F R U R' U' F'

Look closely and you'll spot an old friend in the middle: the sexy move. F and F' are a frame around it. F tilts the front face and slips the top front edge into the spot where the sexy move does its work; F' then turns the face back. The lower layers come out unharmed, and the edges on top get flipped.

Here the top face shows a horizontal line, running left to right. The algorithm turns it into a cross in one go.

The easy way to play it: F is like turning a steering wheel to the right; then the sexy move in its usual rhythm; then F', the wheel back again. Six moves, and you already know four of them by heart.

L-shape: back and left

Hold the L-shape so that its yellow edges are at the back and on the left — at twelve o'clock and nine o'clock when you look down from above. The algorithm turns this L into a horizontal line, and the line, as you've just seen, into a cross. Two algorithms in a row.

If your L points another way, turn the top first: U, U' or U2. The top edges ride along with the face, so the L simply rotates around the center.

Here's a curious detail: the algorithm never touches the top left edge — it neither moves it nor flips it. It only works on the other three: front, right and back. That's why both good positions, the line and the L, have one yellow edge lounging on the left while the algorithm deals with the rest.

Dot: the long way round

From a dot, the algorithm makes an L-shape — just not facing the way we need: its yellow edges end up at the front and on the right. Spin it round with U2 so the edges sit at the back and on the left, and from there it's the familiar path: L, line, cross.

The full route from a dot: F R U R' U' F', U2, then F R U R' U' F' twice more.

That looks long, but it's the same algorithm three times with one turn of the top in the middle. And the dot doesn't come up often: after the middle layer you'll usually see a line or an L on top already.

Why you never see three edges

There are exactly four patterns, and none of them has one or three yellow edges. That's no accident. Remember the law from chapter 1, that edges only flip in pairs? Every edge in the two finished layers is already the right way round, so the number of flipped edges on top is always even: zero, two or four.

That's where the patterns come from: four flipped edges give a dot, two give an L or a line, zero give a cross. If your top face really does show three yellow edges, someone once took the cube apart and put it back together wrong. No sequence of turns can produce that position.

Where people trip up

The classic mistake is holding the pattern the wrong way. Here the line runs vertically, from you toward the far side. Play the algorithm and instead of a cross you get a dot. Nothing's broken, but you're now three algorithms away from the cross instead of one.

An L pointing the wrong way doesn't get you anywhere either: the algorithm just hands you back an L or a vertical line. So before every F R U R' U' F', check your grip: a line goes horizontal, an L goes back and left.

And don't drop the F' at the end. Without it the frame stays open, and the finished layers below stay broken.

Finally, make sure you know where "back and left" is. Look down at the top face with the side nearest you at the bottom of the picture. Then "back" is the top of the picture, at twelve o'clock, and "left" is the left side, at nine.

Try it yourself: the L-shape

There's an L on top, but it's pointing the wrong way. Turn the top until the yellow edges sit at the back and on the left, then build the cross.

Try it yourself: the dot

The longest route of all starts from a dot. Dot → L-shape → (turn the top) → line → cross. Check your grip before every algorithm.

Next: edges in their places

The yellow cross is done — but take a look at the sides. The side stickers of the yellow edges don't match their centers: here only the front edge is in the right place, and the others are shuffled.

The next step is to put the cross edges where they belong, just as we did with the white cross. Only this time you can't simply drop an edge down, because the finished layers are below. You'll need a new algorithm, and it comes with a famous name.

The good news: your yellow cross won't suffer. The edges trade places but stay yellow side up.