Peter Renzland's Simple Elegant Rubik's Cube Solution Method This 5-step Solution uses 3 Transforms: Corner-Swap, Corner-Twist, Edge-Swap. Notation: The Face positions are: (my) Right, Left, (far) Back, Front, Up, Down. R means turn the Right face (clockwise). [r] means turn the whole cube: RBLF == (R[u])4. R2 means RR; R- means RRR. lfu denotes the left-front-up corner, and bd the back-down edge. Solution: cs: (RB)7 R (15 turns) swap 2 corners lfu <-> fld (upsets 4 edges) ct3r: (R[u])12 (12 turns) twist 3 corners right rbd lbd lfd (upsets 12 edges) es: (R2B2)3 (6 turns) swap 2 edge pairs ru-rd, bu-bd (no side effect) 1. Do the Up Corners intuitively (or use cs and ct3r). 2. Place the Down Corners: Turn the Down face so that at most 2 corners are displaced. Swap them with cs. 3. Orient the Down Corners: If just 1 corner is facing the correct way, put it at rfd; otherwise put a corner requiring a right twist at rfd; apply ct3r. Repeat step 3 until done. 4. Do the Up Edges intuitively (or use es). 5. Do the middle and Down Edges: To move an edge cubie, line it up opposite its target cubicle, properly oriented; line up a helper edge-pair (already matched, or both still random) alongside; apply es; invert the line-up turns (having noted their face-colours). Notes: The transforms could be expressed as elementary quarter turns: cs: RBRB RBRB RBRB RBR ct3r: RBLF RBLF RBLF es: RRBB RRBB RRBB Solving the Cube means placing and properly orienting the 20 movable cubies. Edges have 2 flip states. Corners have 3 (right) spin states: 0, 1, 2. Step 2 has 5 unique corner displacements: 4 side swaps and 1 diagonal swap. (If required, you can make diagonal corners adjacent for the swap.) Step 3 has 8 unique corner spin states. (ct3r == +0111 mod 3). 2001 2010 2100 2112 2121 0111 0222 (0000) apply ct3r: | may have | 2112 2121 2211 2220 2202 0222 apply ct3r: | to apply | 2220 2202 2022 apply ct3r. | ct3r 3 times. | (If 1 corner needs a Right twist, you can place it at lfd and do (L[u-])12.) I like holding the cube with my left hand, turning the right and back faces. I found these transforms exploring R and B turn sequences. [1982 - 2013.05.19]