Cross to F2L transition tips?

[emps]

I average around 26 seconds. My cross takes around 6 seconds, f2l takes around 10, oll takes 3.5 and pll takes 3.5. That all adds up to around 23 seconds. Thing is, I have an akward pause in between cross and f2l. I'll do cross, look around for 2-4 seconds for 1st pair then my solves flow pretty smoothly. I use 2 Look OLL and Full PLL, and my solves take around 65 moves. my main problem is probably lookahead and fingertricks. Anyone have any tips for my cross to f2l transition or anything else that could help me improve?

 

[Duncan Bannon]

I have the same problem. I think trying to plan first pair (or just a corner) is the biggest thing.

 

[THERAGINGCYCLOPS]

6 second cross is way too slow, you should work on cross speed before anything else

 

[lilKriT]

You will probably hate me for that, but I will say the most common saying: Go slow and look ahead
I also heard of this exercise when you solve most of the cross, 2 or 3 pieces. And then you try to the last piece and first F2L without a pause.

And indeed, that is a slow cross, I think you should practice that first

 

[emps]

You will probably hate me for that, but I will say the most common saying: Go slow and look ahead
I also heard of this exercise when you solve most of the cross, 2 or 3 pieces. And then you try to the last piece and first F2L without a pause.

And indeed, that is a slow cross, I think you should practice that first

my f2l is pretty fast and few pauses, just a akward cross to f2l transition. i find it hard to track pieces during cross, but quite easy during f2l stage. do you have any tips on cross tps? my cross is pretty effiecent, but its only like 1 tps lol

 

[emps]

how should i work on cross speed? i know my tps is very lacking, but i think my cross effiecency is ok.

6 second cross is way too slow, you should work on cross speed before anything else

just in case it isnt, here are some solves :

Scramble : D2 F2 L2 U2 R2 F2 D' F2 U' B2 U2 B D' R B' D' L D' B' R2 U


Inspection : z2 y’ (scramble done green front, white top, solution red front, yellow top)


Cross L’ D R’ F’ D’ (5)


1st pair R L U2 R’ L’ (5)


2nd pair y’ R U’ R’ U2 R U R’ (8)


3rd pair U’ R’ U R U2 R’ U R (8)


4th pair U2 L U L’ U2 L U’ L’ (8)


OLL : U f R U R’ U’ f’ R U R’ U R U2 R’ (14)


PLL : F R U’ R’ U’ R U R’ F’ R U R’ U’ R’ F R F’ (17)


AUF : U’ (1)


Movecount (counting rotations, but not inspection, obviously) : 66 moves


Scramble : R2 D L' F D2 R' F2 D L D L2 U2 D L2 F2 D2 L2 B2 U' L2


Inspection : y2


Cross : R’ F U’ L2 R2 (5)


1st pair : U2 y’ R U’ R’ (5)


2nd pair : L U2 L’ U2 L U’ L’ (7)


3rd pair : y’ U2 R U R’ U’ R U R’ (9)


4th pair : y U R’ U2 R U’ y R U R’ (10)


OLL : f R U R’ U’ f’ U2 r U R’ U’ r’ F R F’ (15)


PLL: U x L U’ L D2 L’ U L D2 L2 (11)


AUF : U (1)

Movecount : 63




I'd appreciate any tips on effiecency for cross or f2l, also please tell me if im using any bad algs! thanks

 

[emps]

I have the same problem. I think trying to plan first pair (or just a corner) is the biggest thing.

im trying to track pieces and then let muscle memory handle it from there w/o planning first pair but i fail to track an edge or corner properly lots of the time

 

[Duncan Bannon]

Its okay to use more than 15 seconds at first. JPerm has a wonderful video on this. Basically think of all the moves to solve cross and see which ones affect the piece. Hope it helps

 

[emps]

Its okay to use more than 15 seconds at first. JPerm has a wonderful video on this. Basically think of all the moves to solve cross and see which ones affect the piece. Hope it helps

ok thanks! i appreciate the advice

 

[lilKriT]

I see you can do cross in around 5 moves which is indeed very efficient, so that's not the problem - You say you lose time looking for pieces. In that case, you should try do "partial blindsolves". Look at the cube as long as you want to (as mentioned before, don't limit yourself to 15 seconds) and memorize at least one (that will probably be too easy) or two pieces. When you get that down without problem, aim for solving 3 pieces from memory or even four. That will solve one part of your problem, and the other part would be what happens next.

If you go really fast and then pause while looking for next piece, slow down while doing the pieces you memorized. Try to solve them without looking. It will be awkward but after a while you get used to it and use the time to look for next piece. It will improve your times a lot.

 

[emps]

I see you can do cross in around 5 moves which is indeed very efficient, so that's not the problem - You say you lose time looking for pieces. In that case, you should try do "partial blindsolves". Look at the cube as long as you want to (as mentioned before, don't limit yourself to 15 seconds) and memorize at least one (that will probably be too easy) or two pieces. When you get that down without problem, aim for solving 3 pieces from memory or even four. That will solve one part of your problem, and the other part would be what happens next.

If you go really fast and then pause while looking for next piece, slow down while doing the pieces you memorized. Try to solve them without looking. It will be awkward but after a while you get used to it and use the time to look for next piece. It will improve your times a lot.

hmm.. im bad at partial blindsolves, i can only do like 1 f2l pair blindfolded and cross blindfolded

 

[lilKriT]

That should be enough then. How are your finger tricks? Maybe the cross moves are a bit awkward to you and that's slowing you down in the cross part? You could watch some videos where people do stuff like F moves with thumbs, revers U move with the "opposite" finger. Another very useful thing is that sometimes your hand is in a different position, like after an R or R2 - then you can use your index finger to do a faster B'. Do you know what I mean? If you utilize those a lot, you can get a nice improvement. What really helped me with that was the videos and also doing scrambles. They are very random and the movements ar usually awkward, and that's what you want.

And if you can do 1 F2L pair, that's already good. If it's too hard for you to go to 2 pairs, which imo is incredibly difficult, you can do smaller steps. For example do the pair but also know where in general is a piece for 2nd pair. Then know the exact place. Then remember the exact orientation of the part. Just remember to take it slow and never expect immediate improvement.

Oh I have a question. Do you always start with the same pair? Try different ways. If you have trouble finding the first pair when looking for specific color, try to find one of 2 or just go color neutral. If it' gets confusing, try to reduce the pairs to choose from?

Btw, if what I say is stupid - forgive me. I use Roux mostly, I switched long time ago from CFOP.

 

[LightFlame_]

there is a website for this.
there is also a thread dedicated to the website for this.
hope i helped

 

[emps]

there is a website for this.
there is also a thread dedicated to the website for this.
hope i helped

Thanks! Im going to start out with 4 moves.i didnt know this kinda stuff existed lol

 

[LightFlame_]

Thanks! Im going to start out with 4 moves.i didnt know this kinda stuff existed lol

actually, i would recommend starting on one until you get an ao12 with the times that you like (e.g. sub-20 ao12) and then climb up the ranks
for me, even two move crosses were hard to get sub-20 on.

 

[emps]

Thanks for the advice everyone! My cross - f2l transition is far better and my avg is down to 23!

i should seriously work on my cross times...

 

[emps]

Hey, uh so, I know this is a dead thread right now, but I average sub 12 now! Thanks for all the help guys!