CFOP

The Cross

In my beginner tutorial, I cover the basics of making the cross. Here I will cover some more advanced concepts.

Efficiency

Try to make the cross in 8 moves or fewer. Every cross can be solved in 8 moves or fewer, 7 or fewer is enough more than 99.9% of the time, and the shortest solution averages about 5.8 moves. Even at only 2 turns per second (tps), the cross should take no more than 4 seconds to make. With practice, a consistent 2-second cross (or faster) is viable.

For example, face green with white on top, and do this scramble:
L2 U D B’ U’ B’ F L B’ D’ F2 B2 R’ U2 B2 U’ F D B2 R D F’ D2 B R’

If you face the red center with the yellow center on top, one possible cross solution is (D’U2L2R). Another (perhaps preferable) solution is (DR2D2R’).

Relative Positioning

Beginners will often put the cross pieces in place one at a time (aligned with the white center and the red/green/orange/blue center). Sometimes it is more efficient to put the cross pieces in place around the white center, correctly positioned in relation to each other but incorrectly positioned in relation to the sides. Then a simple D/D’/D2 will fix the cross.

For example, face green with white on top, and do this scramble:
U’ B’ L’ D2 L2 D B’ R D R2 U B’ U D’ F U2 F D2 R D’ L’ R’ U L2 B

If you face the red center with the yellow center on top, one possible cross solution is (L’BDR’B’D). The initial L’B puts the green and red cross pieces in position with respect to each other. D prepares to receive the other two cross pieces into the bottom layer, and R’B’ puts them there. The final D move moves all four cross pieces into position, completing the cross. If we had tried first to align the cross pieces with their corresponding side colors, the solution would be much longer, something like (LU2RFLF2U’RB2).

Planning in Inspection

In competition, you get 15 seconds of inspection before the solve. Use it to plan the whole cross, so that you can make it without thinking. Then, while your hands execute the cross, your eyes are free to look for your first CE pair. This is what makes the transition from the cross to F2L smooth instead of a pause.

Once planning the cross is a habit, go one step further and plan your first pair during inspection too:

1. Plan the full cross first, and rehearse it in your head.
2. Find the corner and edge of a pair you can see without rotating the cube, and work out where your cross moves will carry them.
3. Pick the pair whose pieces your cross moves leave in the top layer or in a convenient spot, so you can start F2L the moment the cross is done.

Do not worry if you cannot track the pair yet. Even knowing which pair you will solve first, and roughly where it will be, saves time. Practice this with untimed solves where you allow yourself the full 15 seconds every time.

XCross

Sometimes a cross solution moves one F2L pair into its slot at the same time, or can be changed slightly so that it does. Solving the cross and a pair together is called an XCross (extended cross). It usually costs only a few moves more than the cross alone, and it saves a whole F2L pair. Finding one in inspection takes practice, so start by looking for pairs that are already joined, or a corner and edge that sit right next to their cross edge.

Here is a worked example. Face green with white on top, and do this scramble:
L’ D2 L’ F’ R’ D L’ R U2 D B’ L2 D’ R’ F D’ U F2 R’ L

Then turn the cube over (z2) so the white center is on the bottom, keeping green in front. One XCross solution is (R’ U R2 L’ F2 B’ R), only 7 moves. The first six moves solve three cross edges and, without any extra effort, join the front-right corner and edge into a pair sitting in the bottom layer under the right face. The last cross edge waits in the back-right slot. The final R lifts the pair into its slot and drops the last cross edge home, finishing the cross and the first pair together. Step through it below.

Color Neutrality

Some people practice making the cross with different colors. If you are equally comfortable starting with any of the six colors, you are “color neutral”, and you can choose the most convenient cross in every solve. With six crosses to choose from, there is almost always a short one, and often one that leads straight into an easy first pair or an XCross. Full color neutrality is common among top solvers for exactly this reason.

The cost is that you have to recognize F2L pairs and last layer cases with any color on top, which slows down look-ahead while you are learning. A popular middle ground is “dual color neutral”: comfortable with two opposite colors, usually white and yellow. Both crosses share the same four side colors, so much of your F2L recognition carries over between them, and an awkward white cross can often be replaced by a better yellow one. If you are just starting CFOP, it is fine to stick with one color; you can add a second color later without unlearning anything.

Next is the most important phase of CFOP: the first two layers.