4 of 7 in Phase 1 — Beginner
Step 6 of 25

Step 4: The Yellow Cross

One algorithm — F-sexy-F' — drives the top face from Dot through Hook and Line to the yellow cross.

≈ 10 minAfter: Step 3: Second-Layer Edges

What you'll learn

Goal state: a yellow plus on the top face, the four yellow edges pointing up
The goal: a yellow plus. Corners can be anything.

Two layers down. From here you stop chasing individual pieces and start reading patterns on the top face. The goal: all four yellow edges pointing up — a yellow plus.

Hold the cube white on bottom, yellow on top. Look only at the yellow center and the four edges around it. Corners don’t matter yet — grey in the diagrams means “don’t care”, so ignore any yellow corners you happen to see.

One algorithm, three states

The whole step is F-sexy-F’: an F, the sexy move you already own, F’ to undo:

F R U R' U' F'

The F hides a top edge inside the front layer, the sexy move kicks it back out flipped and tucks a second one in, and F’ restores everything else — net effect, exactly two edges reoriented per pass. Ignoring corners, only three starting patterns exist:

Dot case — only the yellow center faces up
Dot — three passes
Hook case — yellow center plus two adjacent edges forming an L
Hook — two passes
Line case — yellow center plus two opposite edges in a row
Line — one pass

The count is how many passes you need: each pass advances one state, Dot → Hook → Line → Cross.

The angle matters

Repeat — read the state, set the angle, run the algorithm — until the yellow plus appears. The side colors of those edges won’t match the side centers yet; that’s correct, and it’s exactly what Step 5 fixes. Already have the cross? Skip ahead.

The Line case: held horizontal, one pass completes the cross.

Cases in this lesson

Practice

Drill the three cross cases until you name the pattern before your hands move — recognition, not execution, is the slow half here.