How would you solve this scramble (left cross)?

[LarsN]

I’ve been trying to improve my f2l which I do with cross on left by looking at some speedsolve videos. Problem is that most left cross videos are shots from competitions making it very hard to analyze the solves. So inspired by another thread I’m hoping that some left cross solvers would try this scramble and write down their solution in this thread.

I am mostly interested in the f2l part, but your welcome to submit your full solution

Scramble (cross color on bottom): L R B F' D' L' R2 D U L2 U2 L R' B F D B' L2 R2 B D U2 B F2 D'

My solution:
Cross: z x2 U' F' L R U' B2
First pair: U' R U l2 U R' U'
Second pair: x U' R'U
Third pair: l' U' R' U l U R U'
Last pair: l2 U R' U' R U R U'
OLL: z’ l' U' l L' U' L U l' U l
PLL: y’ U2 R' U2 R U z D' R2' U R' D R U'

 

[Dene]

Personally, scrambling cross colour on D, I would solve this case with cross on F, but I can do left anyway:

Cross: (f r2) U (r') U L' R' (r) U (r) U2
First Pair: (f') U' R U' R' U (u) R U2 R'
Second Pair: (u') U L' U' L U' (u') L' U' L
Third Pair: R U' R (u) L' U2 L
Fourth Pair: (u) U' L' U2 L U' (u) L U L'
Nice OLL
U-perm

36 move F2L (+6+11, and maybe +1 U adjustment)

 

[LarsN]

Personally, scrambling cross colour on D, I would solve this case with cross on F, but I can do left anyway:

Thanks for answering, Dene. I was looking for solves that had the cross on left during the entire f2l solve. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough

 

[David]

Cross on left Green as F
Cross: D' B' r R F' U2
F2L Pair 1: F' R F l2 F R' F'
F2L Pair 2: l U R' U2 R U
F2L Pair 3: x' R' U R U'
F2L Pair 4: l' U R' U R' B' R B
OLL: RU2R2U' RU'R'U2FRF'
PLL: A Perm
26 total for F2L, this was a great scramble 18.03 was my time on it. Hope this helps out.

 

[shelley]

Scramble and start with white on bottom, green on front

Cross: R F D' U' R B2 z x'
R/G pair: U' R' U D R D'
O/B pair: l U' R' U R' U' R U
R/B pair: x2 U R2 U' R' U R U'
O/G pair: l2 U R2 U' R2 U R' U'
And a crappy last layer, which more advanced cubers might be able to avoid by using some ZB techniques with the last pair (I don't know ZB).

But that's a 6 move cross + 29 move F2L, which is about typical for me.

 

[LarsN]

Great thanks !

I really wanted to see how many cuberotations and l turns people make during f2l, and also if someone used special ways to insert pairs that I didn't know.
It looks like we have pretty similar approaches to the solve though.

I would like to see some more solves from people. There must be more left cross solvers out there

 

[Dene]

Oh sorry, I didn't realise. The whole F2L on left must be awkward!

 

[pete]

Scramble with white on top.

Cross : U' B' L d' l' U' (6)
1 C/E : y' l' U' R U L2 U R' (7)
2 C/E : U2 R' U x R2 U R' U' (7)
3 C/E : R U' R2 U (4)
OLLe : x U' R' U (3)
4 C/E : x R U R U' R2 U R' U' (8)
OLLc : z' R U' L' U R' U' L U' (8)
PLL : x z R2 D2 R U R' D2 R U' R (9)

Total 52 moves
F2L including LL edges : 35 moves

I'm at disadvantage here because I know only 7 OLL cases (OLLc)
so I have to orient and/or solve my edges before inserting last C/E pair.
In this case it cost me 3 moves.

If I knew all OLL algorithms I could've done 4th C/E pair directly after my
3rd C/E pair : x2 U R2 U' R2 U R' U' (7) for a total of 31 moves F2L.

 

[LarsN]

Oh sorry, I didn't realise. The whole F2L on left must be awkward!

It's not that awkward. I learned intuitive f2l by myself before anyone told me that you should keep the cross on D. It felt more natural for me to do it on left. My best avg of 12 is 19.58 and non lucky single is 15.01. There are a lot of really fast cubers who do it on left.

Try one of the solves in this thread, you'll notice that fingertricks are nice with cross on left.

 

[masterofthebass]

Yeah, Tomasz Zolnowski uses cross on left, and has a sub-10 in comp! Most of the original Caltech crew use cross on left, and it can be just as fast. I use cross on left during OH solves sometime as it just flows nicely.

 

[shelley]

Oh sorry, I didn't realise. The whole F2L on left must be awkward!

It's not that awkward. I learned intuitive f2l by myself before anyone told me that you should keep the cross on D. It felt more natural for me to do it on left. My best avg of 12 is 19.58 and non lucky single is 15.01. There are a lot of really fast cubers who do it on left.

Try one of the solves in this thread, you'll notice that fingertricks are nice with cross on left.

Same here. I started out cross on top (this was way before speedcubing became mainstream and nobody told me I should keep it on the bottom). When I hit the 40 second mark and realized cross on top was inefficient, it was an easier transition from there to cross on left rather than cross on bottom. Leyan and Tyson were left cross solvers, and it was easiest for me to watch and emulate them.

Cross on bottom is a lot easier to teach newbies with though. That's why most people who learned in the last few years have been doing cross on bottom. Cross on left is the way of the old school cubers. Jessica Fridrich herself does cross on left; it doesn't get anymore old school than that.

I still solve cross on left, but occasionally I'll switch to cross on bottom for the last one or two pairs if they happen to be in a position so that it's easier.

Heh.. I wonder if any left handed speedcubers do cross on right...

 

[Dene]

I guess the finger tricks are similar to F2L on D, but the problem is lookahead. Not only is the D face covered, but now the D face is out of view too. Do you find that awkward to deal with at all?

 

[shelley]

I think whatever method you don't use is always going to seem awkward for you. Cross on bottom is awkward for me because my left hand trigger moves are slower than my right hand (it's much easier for me to do R U R' than L' U' L). But as you've adapted to being able to trigger fluently with both hands, I've adapted to looking ahead with the cube in cross on left position.

It's a trade off. Cross on bottom gives you better visibility and look ahead, cross on left gives you easier execution.

 

[ExoCorsair]

z2 y' F R y' U2 R2 U R' z' (6, 6)
R2 x U R2 U' R U R' U' (8, 14)
l2 U R2 U' R U R' U' (8, 22)
l2 U R U' R U R' U' (8, 30)
z' R U R' U R U' R' (7, 37)

Very high move count, but nice two-gen for the most part.

 

[Pusha]

cross: z' x [U' D'] L F' U R' D2
F2L Pair 1: R U' R U Lw D' R2 D
F2L Pair 2: x U R' U'
F2L Pair 3 + Pair 4: R U' R U R D' R' [D U'] R2 U
OLL: z' x' U' R U Lw' U' R' U' R U R' U R
PLL: U2