CFOP Quick-witted Princess Leia (F2L completion guessing)

Tito_H

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May 23, 2024
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Episode XX+9

Princess Leia
and R2D2 manage
to open the iron doors of
the Imperial fortress on the moon
Endor and enter.
As soon as they enter
the fortress's control room,
Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, appears
before them...

Darth Sidious threatened Princess Leia, saying, "It's been a while, Princess Leia. We knew you would come, so waited in anticipation. We fought you on the Death Star a few times and lost, but it won't be the same here."

Princess Leia asserted, "You guys are so persistent! I won't lose to you."

He then said, "Let's play another Rubik's Cube game. Complete F2L with this cube in 7 moves or less (based on QTM). I'll give you 15 seconds to think. If you can't, the defensive beams emitted from this satellite will block your fighters' attacks, and they will become prey to our Death Star and our fighters' artillery. Now, let's begin," and handed her the scrambled cube shown below.



She carefully observed the cube and became convinced that by applying the algorithm that @Fred, who had helped her previously, had taught her, she could complete the problem using the following solution.

(Princess Leia's solve)


However, the nasty Darth Sidious added, "Oops, I almost forgot to mention that the condition is that neither pair can physically touch each other while on the U-face. Ready, go!"

Princess Leia muttered, "This is tricky. In my solution, the orange and blue pair touch each other before been slotted in. What should I do...?"

Readers, is there any way to complete F2L in 7 moves or less, under the condition above described?

===P.S. Sorry, I made a mistake and modified a bit after posting (not 10 moves but 7 moves).===
 
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How did you do that cube 3D thing?
Please go to and read this post of the member @bcube, and learn how to attach the 3D simulator in your post.
https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/animcubejs-an-animated-web-cube.84762/#post-1583414

To check that the simulator works as you intended, click on the Preview button before sending your forum post.
499B9075-09F2-47F0-B62D-486BD52E2B2D.jpeg
 
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Please go to and read this post of the member @bcube, and learn how to attach the 3D simulator in your post.
https://www.speedsolving.com/threads/animcubejs-an-animated-web-cube.84762/#post-1583414

To check that the simulator works as you intended, click on the Preview button before sending your forum post.
View attachment 47046

If you need more help, please let me know. I can give you some easy steps to do.
For example, you can show a basic simulator cube 3x3 like below in just a few second.
Write [ube][/cube] in your post (change the word ube to cube), and see it in Preview mode.

 
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I came up with a 10 move solution ill try to make it less moves, its just some kind of idea i had. So, orange on front : U R' F R F' then rotate to blue on front then D R U R' D'
 
I came up with a 10 move solution ill try to make it less moves, its just some kind of idea i had. So, orange on front : U R' F R F' then rotate to blue on front then D R U R' D'

Do you mean U R' F R F' y D R U R' D' ?
I put it into the simulation as shown below. The orange-blue pair is ok, but it seems the blue-red pair remains out of the slot…😥

 
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I found that your alg can be ok if you change R U R' to F R' F' R (a.k.a. Hedgeslammer) like below, but that takes 11 moves, not in 7 moves…

 
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@Sub20Soon, please take another look at the simulation of Princess Leia's procedure (U R F R' F' R'). There is only one place where the Corner piece (CP) and Edge piece (EP) come into contact on the U-face. The EP comes into contact at the UR position, and the CP comes into contact at the UFR position. If you can make this contact on a face other than the U-face, you will clear all the conditions. Think about how you can do this. Don't give up, keep trying! 💪
 
Let's look at how Princess Leia's quick thinking saved her from a predicament.

Princess Leia could think of no other way to complete the two remaining F2Ls in 7 moves or less than U R F R' F' R'. However, her move would have placed the orange-blue EP in the UR position and the same-colored CP in the UFR position, touching each other.

She stopped the cube just before the EP and CP touched, pondering, "I'll have to think of a way to avoid the two pieces touching in this position."

The heat inside the fortress caused the air conditioner to turn on, creating a sudden breeze. To style her hair, she removed a hairpin and put it in her mouth. As she combed it with one hand, she suddenly thought, "That's it, this is it!"

She then inserted the hairpin into the cube next to the orange-blue EP and forcefully turned the last F' R' to slot in the pair together with the hairpin, completing the F2L.

With a nonchalant look on her face, she removed the hairpin from the cube and put it back in her hair, then turned to Darth Sidious and the others and said, "So what? The EP and CP weren't in physical contact, were they?"

Darth Sidious groaned "Hmm" and shuddered...
 
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Finally, let's show you how to clear the condition without using a "hairpin" like Princess Leia. In essence, if you follow Princess Leia's solve and tilt and rotate to the right at z/z', the orange-blue pair can be slotted in without touching each other.

Either of the two methods below is OK. I've included these two solves in a simulation, so please give it a try!

z R D F D' F' D' z'
U R F R' z F' D' z'

 
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