# Beginner 3x3 Tutorial (1 alg solution)



## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

http://cube.crider.co.uk/beginner.html

Just looking for some feedback really. Are the instructions easy enough to follow?

Cheers


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## Kirjava (Jul 2, 2010)

I love you :O


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## Joker (Jul 2, 2010)

I think you could show the moves being done in a slideshow (some example moves on how to make the cross, put the edges in for the second layer, etc.)
But it's a good beginners method.


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## iChanZer0 (Jul 2, 2010)

You should call this the sexy method


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## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> I love you :O


Hehe ... Aki's not going to be happy 



Joker said:


> I think you could show the moves being done in a slideshow (some example moves on how to make the cross, put the edges in for the second layer, etc.)
> But it's a good beginners method.


Cheers, did you click on the cubes for examples? I'm worried a slideshow will be a lot of work 




iChanZer0 said:


> You should call this the sexy method


Good choice ... OK


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## TeddyKGB (Jul 2, 2010)

You might want to explain what to do during the "3x more corners" step when the corner in the bottom layer is solved


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## Novriil (Jul 2, 2010)

Turn the top face so that the unsolved position is in the top-front. Do the sexy move once. Now solve the same way as before and the final edges will fall into place.

Somewhy I have a problem on how to do it.. WTF!  I did it twice and at first I got the same case and then I got the flipped case.


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## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

TeddyKGB said:


> You might want to explain what to do during the "3x more corners" step when the corner in the bottom layer is solved


Done



Novriil said:


> Turn the top face so that the unsolved position is in the top-front. Do the sexy move once. Now solve the same way as before and the final edges will fall into place.
> 
> Somewhy I have a problem on how to do it.. WTF!  I did it twice and at first I got the same case and then I got the flipped case.



That is a very good point sir! Tutorial updated...


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## brunson (Jul 2, 2010)

Sweet, I just sent the link to a co-worker that is going to try to learn to solve for the first time over the long weekend. You rock.


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## InfernoTowel (Jul 2, 2010)

This wins the internet.

I like how official-soundingly you say "sexy move".


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## tfray94 (Jul 2, 2010)

i'm confused...when i do the final two edges, the permutation never comes out right.


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## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

Cheers for the good feedback guys. I'll be interested to know how your colleague gets on brunson 



tfray94 said:


> im confused...when i do the final two edges, the permutation never comes out right.


Which case are you looking at?


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## tfray94 (Jul 2, 2010)

all of them


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## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

tfray94 said:


> all of them



OK, so before you move onto the 2-final edges phase, are you sure that at least three top layer edges are solved (ie. permuted correctly)?


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## uberCuber (Jul 2, 2010)

am i missing something because this looks exactly like the 8355 method to me..


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## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

It's similar yes, but with differences. Did you read the description at the top of the page?


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## uberCuber (Jul 2, 2010)

lolreading 

sorry can you point out the differences for me?


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## Cride5 (Jul 2, 2010)

(1) E-slice edges are placed before D-layer corners.
(2) Placement of the final 5 corners is broken down into 3+2 with only sexy move used to solve the final two.


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## uberCuber (Jul 2, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> (1) E-slice edges are placed before D-layer corners.
> (2) Placement of the final 5 corners is broken down into 3+2 with only sexy move used to solve the final two.



ah i see nice ideas


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## kagecube (Jul 2, 2010)

tfray94 said:


> i'm confused...when i do the final two edges, the permutation never comes out right.



20.xx avg 5 mmmm dont you mean 20 hours?


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## tfray94 (Jul 3, 2010)

I want to learn this to teach my cousin but I'm not getting it. That step is messing me up.


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## brunson (Jul 3, 2010)

Playing with 8355 I found that the most common problem I and the person I was teaching had was not completing all four moves of the algorithm. If you've completed the placement and orientation of one of the final five corners you *have* to do the final D (or U' in Cride's variation). If you don't, the cube magic escapes and you'll have a botched cube.

Maybe that's not your problem, but you're not being very forthcoming with specifics.


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## Cride5 (Jul 3, 2010)

@ tfray94. I'm going to try my hardest to solve your problem, but you need to give me some details about exactly where things are going wrong. So as far as I'm aware, you're fine with solving exactly 3 of the four U-layer edges, and the problem lies in solving the final two.

In this step, as the tutorial says there are 4 scenarios (3 scenarios which you care about, as the fourth is solved). If we're to solve the problem we need to tackle each scenario one by one. Can you tell me exactly what's going wrong when:
(1) the final edge is in the U-layer but flipped
(2) the final edge is in the E-slice and can be placed using an R-move
(3) the final edge is in the E-slice and can be placed using an F-move

@brunson, your diagnosis sounds pretty reasonable. Currently the tutorial doesn't mention any common mistakes or 'gotchas', but I think it would be useful to include a section for that. If you discover any more of these kind of common mistakes, I'd be interested to hear. cheers..


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## James Ludlow (Jul 3, 2010)

This seems to be the road I'm going to take with little frank to begin with. I've done a few solves and it seems to be pretty straight forward. Thanks for this.


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## TheCubeMaster5000 (Jul 5, 2010)

I find that it doesn't cover several "cases" that occur in the last 2 steps. 

Example: Instead of the last 2 un-oriented corners being in the same layer they come up in different layers, so that turning one layer doesn't affect both corners. It's not impossible to solve, (you just move one piece down, orient them both, then move it back up) but if I didn't know how to solve it beforehand I would have given up.


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## Cride5 (Jul 5, 2010)

TheCubeMaster5000 said:


> I find that it doesn't cover several "cases" that occur in the last 2 steps.
> 
> Example: Instead of the last 2 un-oriented corners being in the same layer they come up in different layers, so that turning one layer doesn't affect both corners. It's not impossible to solve, (you just move one piece down, orient them both, then move it back up) but if I didn't know how to solve it beforehand I would have given up.



At the end of the "3x More Corners" step you're not supposed to align the bottom layer. I've updated the tutorial to clarify this.

Thanks for the feedback.


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## Cride5 (Jul 6, 2010)

OK, so I've updated the tutorial to include step-by-step instructions for solving the cross, and also added more detail to the other sections. I'm hoping there's now enough there for a complete beginner.

If anyone is still having troubles please let me know, cheers!


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## Cride5 (Jul 8, 2010)

Joker said:


> I think you could show the moves being done in a slideshow (some example moves on how to make the cross, put the edges in for the second layer, etc.)
> But it's a good beginners method.



Step-by-step diagrams have now been added with the help of VisualCube's new arrows feature 

Hope it explains stuff a bit better..


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## dada222 (Jul 8, 2010)

That's kind of kewl. I'll try it <3


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## TheCubeMaster5000 (Jul 11, 2010)

Much clearer now. Thanks a lot!

One more thing: When you get to the "3x more corners" section and you are told to flip over the cube, the pictures still show yellow on the top (the same as in the first part). That may possibly be confusing to someone who is trying to follow the illustrations exactly. 

I'm not trying to be picky, it's just something I noticed.


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## TheCubeMaster5000 (Jul 11, 2010)

brunson said:


> Playing with 8355 I found that the most common problem I and the person I was teaching had was not completing all four moves of the algorithm. If you've completed the placement and orientation of one of the final five corners you *have* to do the final D (or U' in Cride's variation). If you don't, the cube magic escapes and you'll have a botched cube.
> 
> Maybe that's not your problem, but you're not being very forthcoming with specifics.



I can see that happening with several beginner methods. 
I realized early on that a lot of times the final U' _isn't_ necessary when you're dealing with the early stages of solving. But if that realization carries on to the last layer then you will be in trouble.


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## Cride5 (Jul 11, 2010)

Hi, cheers for the feedback.

Good observation on the inconsistent diagrams, I'm not at home just now, but will fix later on.

Because the method is pitched at absolute beginners, I thought it best to leave any extras/shortcuts unmentioned. I think discovering things like that on your own is all part of the fun! 

If you're interested in speedsolving with this or 8533 I've posted an 'advancements' section on the wiki [wiki]8355[/wiki] page with info on improving efficiency.


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## Novriil (Jul 13, 2010)

I love this method  Although I can't solve it fast but many lucky solves, easy to follow, 1 alg. I've already thought 2 persons to solve the cube with that method


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## Anonymous (Jul 13, 2010)

I think you have a knack for teaching  
I learned ZZ from your tutorial, and this also seems like a great method to teach beginners. Great job!

Edit: Read it through pretty carefully, and two things come to mind. First, is there a reason for the choice of edges -> corners keyhole over corners -> edges? It's not a flaw, I'm just curious. 
Also, when talking about how to insert the edges right after the cross, I might have missed it, but I don't think you're exactly clear on the fact that the E-slice edge's side color can't be matching up with a center before the insertion. Maybe you could clarify this? (Or did I miss something?)


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## Cride5 (Jul 13, 2010)

@Novrill, great to hear the method has worked for you! What (if any) would you say the hardest part to explain was?

@Anon, I chose to go for edges before corners was to keep the corner insertion on the first 3 corners similar to the final 5. Doing it this way means that all corner placements use basically the same concept - with the exception that a solver is free to move the top layer for the first 3. I guess edges first keyhole is possibly easier as well since there's less chance that the solver will 'forget' to do the D-turns to move the keyhole, because the D-layer's position is more integral to the procedure.

For your second point: I found that, although the concept is quite straight forward, explaining E-slice edge placement in simple terms was quite difficult. 
The explanation I went for goes:

_"Turn the side 90° so that a bottom layer edge moves into the position that the middle layer edge will occupy when solved. Make sure the middle layer edge stays in the top layer."_

I guess the final sentence may not be direct enough. How about maybe changing it to:

_"Turn the side 90° so that a bottom layer edge moves into the position that the middle layer edge will occupy when solved. Ensure the middle layer edge is not within the side which is turned, so that it stays in the top layer."_

... or I could go for something along the lines of ensuring the side stickers don't match in colour, but I feel that it would be more long-winded while not really helping to explain why. What do you think?


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## Anonymous (Jul 13, 2010)

One thing that may help is if you teach them to use the R' F R F' insertion for the edges, instead of the R U' R' one. This way, all you have to say is,

_Locate a middle layer edge, and turn the top layer until its side sticker matches up in color with a center. Turn the cube so that the place where the edge must go is in the front-right position. _

As for actual execution, you could explain it something like this:

_Turn the face containing the edge you are working with 90 degrees so that it now occupies the correct slot. Using a different side, perform a 90 degree turn to hide away the edge in the bottom layer. Turn the first side you moved so that its cross edge is back in place. Now perform a final turn of the second side we moved so as to return the middle layer edge to the correct position. _

Looking at how long the explanation is, I actually don't think it's worth it any more. A tiny bit of trial and error would be the most effort involved in solving the problem I outlined in my other post, even for a beginner. Still, if you decide to do this, this is pretty much how I'd go about doing it.


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## Cride5 (Jul 13, 2010)

Yup, that's quite a long explanation! I guess explaining things in such basic terms really helps you to see it from a beginner's perspective. 

...I think I'll stick to to the original approach, because the steps seem more intuitive, and it will normally be less moves. I changed the explanation around a little to highlight the idea that the middle layer edge needs to be moved away from the side initially, see:
http://cube.crider.co.uk/beginner.html#3me

Is that a bit clearer?


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## Anonymous (Jul 13, 2010)

Yes, that's very clear and concise. My idea was really rather dumb


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## Novriil (Jul 13, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> @Novrill, great to hear the method has worked for you! What (if any) would you say the hardest part to explain was?




For me it was hardest, when the last two edges have to be placed. But thenagain I didn't pay attention to that chapter in the tutorial. I solve it just by sexymove-ing around and then inserting again 

The "algs" doesn't work sometimes.. i think. Although I might be mistakeing. Then sexymove-ing around helps 

This method is no doubt the easiest method so far. Thanks and keep up the good work!


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## ariasamie (Jul 13, 2010)

please make a specific name for this method.


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## Cride5 (Jul 13, 2010)

Novriil said:


> Cride5 said:
> 
> 
> > @Novrill, great to hear the method has worked for you! What (if any) would you say the hardest part to explain was?
> ...



I guess the main thing to remember is, when the final edge is in the slot, always place the unsolved U-layer position in top-front and do the sexy move. If you do the right replacements from there all should work fine.

If the final edge is flipped, but in the U-layer, just place the E-slice edge into one of the already solved positions to bring the flipped edge into the slot. 



ariasamie said:


> please make a specific name for this method.



It's been officially named the [wiki]sexy method[/wiki], thanks to iChanZer0


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## MichaelErskine (Jul 13, 2010)

ariasamie said:


> please make a specific name for this method.



Is sexy move method not specific enough?


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## ariasamie (Jul 13, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> ariasamie said:
> 
> 
> > please make a specific name for this method.
> ...





MichaelErskine said:


> ariasamie said:
> 
> 
> > please make a specific name for this method.
> ...




can you show me which part of the website says it's name is the sexy move method?


http://cube.crider.co.uk/beginner.html said:


> The method is based on a short algorithm called the sexy move.


 so, the *algorithm* is called the sexy move, not the *method*.


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## Kirjava (Jul 13, 2010)

I never liked the term sexy move.


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## Athefre (Jul 14, 2010)

Me either.


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## MichaelErskine (Jul 14, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> I never liked the term sexy move.





Athefre said:


> Me either.



Pah - yous guys is prudes - get with teh sexeh movahs -- WTF aint sexeh bout dat move?


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## Cride5 (Jul 14, 2010)

... all you have to do is, learn one schexy move

<3




ariasamie said:


> http://cube.crider.co.uk/beginner.html said:
> 
> 
> > The method is based on a short algorithm called the sexy move.
> ...



The sexy method - a method based on the sexy move. Seems pretty logical to me.


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## Chapuunka (Jul 14, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> ... all you have to do is, learn one schexy move
> 
> <3



That was great.


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## ariasamie (Jul 14, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> I never liked the term sexy move.





Athefre said:


> Me either.



Me neither. I don't like to say "the sexy method", if my little sister or her little friends ask me what the name of this method is.


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## aronpm (Jul 14, 2010)

If the word 'sexy' bothers you, it shouldn't. And it shouldn't bother younger siblings either. 

If it's _so_ important that you can't say 'sexy', just make up another name for when you tell people about it.


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## Novriil (Jul 14, 2010)

Chapuunka said:


> Cride5 said:
> 
> 
> > ... all you have to do is, learn one schexy move
> ...



Wasn't there a video about it a while ago? Where did that go?


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## MichaelErskine (Jul 14, 2010)

Novriil said:


> Chapuunka said:
> 
> 
> > Cride5 said:
> ...



The wiki has it if it still exists: http://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Sexy_Move

EDIT: damn, I miss Arnaud


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## Kirjava (Jul 14, 2010)

aronpm said:


> If the word 'sexy' bothers you, it shouldn't.




No one said it did.


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## Cride5 (Jul 14, 2010)

ariasamie said:


> Kirjava said:
> 
> 
> > I never liked the term sexy move.
> ...



If you can't use the term 'sexy' then perhaps you could just call it 'SAM' - the *S*ingle *A*lg *M*ethod.


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## Cubenovice (Jul 14, 2010)

My 5 y/o daughter calls the sexy move the 1-2-3-4 move as this is the way she "memorized" it, just by counting.

If you are teaching complete beginners this is a good "notation" as it makes (pretty) sure they always do the final U turn.

1234 solution doesn't sound too bad not complicated


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## Novriil (Jul 14, 2010)

MichaelErskine said:


> Novriil said:
> 
> 
> > Chapuunka said:
> ...



Oh it didn't cross my mind to check wiki about it. Thanks. But unfortunately it seems that the video has been deleted from everywhere


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## Cride5 (Jul 14, 2010)

Novriil said:


> MichaelErskine said:
> 
> 
> > Novriil said:
> ...



Do you mean this one?








Cubenovice said:


> My 5 y/o daughter calls the sexy move the 1-2-3-4 move as this is the way she "memorized" it, just by counting.
> 
> If you are teaching complete beginners this is a good "notation" as it makes (pretty) sure they always do the final U turn.
> 
> 1234 solution doesn't sound too bad not complicated


Nice idea ... it reminds me of Avg's tutorial


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## Cubenovice (Jul 14, 2010)

LOL I just checked the mp3 file...

"one of the fastest moves, 1234 1234 1234..."


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## Mr Cubism (Jul 15, 2010)




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## Cride5 (Jul 15, 2010)

At the start of the previous section it says.

_"Rotate the top layer to align the sides of as many top layer edges as possible."_

You're also supposed to do that here as well - after applying the sexy move. I'll see if I can maybe make that a little clearer...



EDIT: The first part of 3x Top Layer Edges now says:

_"Rotate the top layer to align the sides of as many top layer edges as possible. Always do this before inserting an edge, to check which edges are still unsolved."_

Does that help?


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## Mr Cubism (Jul 16, 2010)

The Sexy-Move-Method is very nice indeed!

The last step (last two corners) is easy to do without a pause; if it starts with (RUR´U´x4) the end will be D (RUR´U´x2) D´ and if it starts with (RUR´U´x2) the end will be D (RUR´U´x4) D´

It would be interesting to know how often the last step becomes a skip....1 solve of 5?! 
I feel that it is quite often. The last solve today I got the cube fully solved after the second corner insertion in the second last step. It was a sub-30 but I didnt got it on film.
Anyway, I got a full step solve sub-35 on tape.
Sorry, I´m not good at it, but the outdoor movie itself will be a nice remembrance when the summer is over.


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## ariasamie (Jul 16, 2010)

mr cubism, what is your normal avg using your main method?


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## Mr Cubism (Jul 16, 2010)

ariasamie said:


> mr cubism, what is your normal avg using your main method?




In a 50 solve serie it´s normally around 23-25 sec and have been so the last 6 months. 

I think it´s a fair guess that the Sexy-Move-Method takes around 70% longer in time than Friedrich. (near the double counts of moves but RUR´U´ are quick). So I hope for a Sexy-move-average around 40 seconds in the future 

Feliks would do sub-17 with it for shore

I like the method because it´s easy to teach.


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## Cride5 (Jul 16, 2010)

Nice vid - sub 35 using only the sexy move is quite impressive 

The chances of skipping the final step are 1 in 3.


Spoiler



The reason is, if you solve all but two corners, then permutation must always be solved (since it's impossible to swap only two pieces using legal moves). The only way they can be unsolved is if they are twisted in place. Because sum of all corner twists must be divisible by 3, then the twist of one corner dictates the twist of the other. There are 3 possible ways to tiwst a corner, and one of these configurations is a final step skip.


When I'm speedsolving with this method, I always count the number of times I've used the sexy move, so that I don't need to watch the cube when I get to the last two corners. Eg, if I've used 5 sexymoves to solve the '3 more corners', then I know to use one more to fix the top layer. I also use the inverse sexy move, and when using that I just decrement the count. When you throw the inverse sexy move into the mix, you can solve everything much more efficiently. For example, if you need to bring a corner into the buffer, then it is always possible to avoid the 3x sexy move case, simply by choosing correctly between using the sexy move or its inverse (hope that makes sense).

I recently managed a 41.16 average of 5 using an 'optimised' version of the sexy method. Following the instructions to the letter, best avg of 5 I could get was just under a minute.


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## Mr Cubism (Jul 16, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> Nice vid... ...I using an 'optimised' version of the sexy method.




Thanks! Now you must get sub-40 in average! The goal of July!

I had luck with the simple yellow edges in the 35-vid, time can run away quickly for me in that step. I´m not used with it yet. 

If the chance is 1 in 3 in the end, is it luck with a skip then?! :confused:

I also use a optimised version, planned cross, the inverse URU´R´ for example. Soon I shall also try cross + three first F2L-pairs (raw and brutal Friedrich ) and then use the sexy-move-method for the rest of the solve = more and more "cheating" without more algos Not good with vacation, stupid ideas grow in the brain.


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## Novriil (Jul 16, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> Do you mean this one?
> [youtube]pV94kgdHw-4 [/youtube]



Actually I meant the video of the song. But it doesn't matter much.


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## Mr Cubism (Jul 17, 2010)

I have studied the counts of moves a little bit more and recommend a few algorithms to use in this algorithmless method







The "3x more corners" are more like 4 more corners, but in 2 solves of 3, the fourth corner will not be solved and you have to fix it in the last step. The average 35 moves (3x more corners) is maybe closer to 30, sometimes there is a skip after two or three corners.
So around 100 moves were less than I expected, not that bad. Must be close to the LBL beginners method.


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## buelercuber (Aug 28, 2010)

this method is actually so good for beginners. I average like 45 with this method, even though with normal fridrich I average sub 19. but still, this is by far the most amusing method out there *yea you heard me waffle*

 4.5/5


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## addicted_to_roux (Sep 1, 2010)

brunson said:


> Playing with 8355 I found that the most common problem I and the person I was teaching had was not completing all four moves of the algorithm. If you've completed the placement and orientation of one of the final five corners you *have* to do the final D (or U' in Cride's variation). If you don't, the cube magic escapes and you'll have a botched cube.
> 
> Maybe that's not your problem, but you're not being very forthcoming with specifics.



Hahaha.  That's what I always did wrong when I first started solving the cube with a similar method that required this. I'd always forget the last U'. :fp


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## Mr Cubism (Sep 1, 2010)

Wooaa! I have not practicing this method for a while, but I will do it now. I average around 45 seconds with this method.
New pb tonight with over 2 sec: 27.30! LTC-skip (LTC = Last Two Corners)
Fun, fun...!

Edit: 10/12 42.63 sec.


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## Cride5 (Sep 2, 2010)

Congrats on the sub-45, and 27.30 is pretty awsome, even if it's lucky!

You inspired me to do some more practice on this and...


Spoiler



...yaysub40!

Best Average of 12: 38.34
Best Time: 32.62
Worst Time: 45.21
Standard Deviation: 3.5 (9.2%)

1. 44.38 U' L2 D U2 R2 F2 D B2 F2 U F' R' B L B D L' U2 F' R' U
2. 35.69 R2 U' B2 R2 F2 L2 F2 D R2 U2 F U2 B U' R D F' D' L F D'
3. (45.21) L2 D2 B2 R2 D U2 B2 U2 R2 D B' D' B2 D2 B2 L R2 F2 R' F' R'
4. (32.62) U' B2 D' L2 D2 B2 F2 U' R2 D' B' D R' B' U2 F' R' B' L' F R2
5. 33.98 F2 U R2 F2 R2 F2 D' U' F2 U F D2 L' F D' U' L' U2 R' F2
6. 40.47 U2 R2 F2 D F2 D2 F2 U' R2 U' L' U2 F D2 B U L2 R D2 R U2
7. 39.66 L2 B2 U F2 R2 B2 D' R2 D2 U B' F2 D U2 F2 L' R' U R2 F2 D'
8. 33.96 L2 R2 F2 U B2 D F2 D' B2 U2 B' U R B' R U R2 B' L R U2
9. 43.01 D2 U' F2 U' L2 D' F2 L2 B2 D' L F U' F2 U2 R F' L' D2 U' R'
10. 38.88 U2 F2 L2 B2 D' R2 B2 U' L' B2 D R U2 B' L2 D R2 U L'
11. 34.63 U L2 U' L2 F2 U' L2 D' L2 D2 F R' U2 B U' L B2 U2 L2 B2 L
12. 38.74 U2 F2 R2 F2 D U' B2 D' L2 U2 R D F R2 U R U' F L' D2 U2 

Sexymove on the GuHong is just godly!

Next challenge - sexymethod sub-30 avg - GOGOGO


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## Mr Cubism (Sep 2, 2010)

Oooooh, congrats to 38.34 average! Nice!
I want to be sub-40 too!

I shall forget about Frieidriscsh for a few days now and practise this method.

Yeah, 27.30 was...wooow.......easy whole the way and skip in the end. I think I can compare it with very easy F2L, easy OLL + PLL skip (and that means for me 14-15 sek).

I shall capture every race now on camera, hopefully i will get a sub-30 single soon, and on tape. But it´s not easy....and it have to be a skip in the end or else it´s impossible for me to make a sub-30, even with training I think


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## Mr Cubism (Sep 3, 2010)

I don´t think it is cheating, but sometimes when I have placed the three middle edges, I see the last fourth edge already paired up with its corner. In that case I insert that edge (pair) too and change the working corner to another which has a (hopefylly nice placed) corner in the up layer (and of cause ignore that the edge in the new working corner is already in place). I save a corner insertion and in the same time I can choose a good working corner.

By the way, I´m on my way to learn a two persons this sexy method.
Cride5, you should be proud of your method!:tu:tu

No sub-30´s yet today


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## towwdso (Sep 13, 2010)

hi, I'm new here. I've been cubing for 8 months now. blah blah blah

well, cutting the introduction, just registered here to say what I'm thinking of this method. Heard of it at the wiki. I am learning it to teach other people, but I'm confused with the last 2 edges part.

I'm seeing that a bunch of people in this thread are confused too.

I was having problem with the last 2 corners, but I read the comments here and now I got it. you just have to align both in D face if they are not in the same face.

But last 2 edges are very tricky.

So for example, I have the 3 solved edges at the U face, but I have to solve the last 2 in F face, so I never know how to do it intuitively. I read the explanation, but its confusing.

I think the explanation should be clearer and more in depth in this part. I struggle to solve it every time, and I think that a begginer will quit from trying to finish it.

I'm trying to understand it really, but I think you should reformulate the explanetion in this part. Its a amazing aproach, I'm really looking forward this. 

English is not my first language, but I can understand better than I can express my toughts.


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## _D2_ (Sep 19, 2010)

Really nice method, sexy too . I'm going to practice this method to see if i can get better times than with fridrich, R and U moves are my best ones. Later on if i imrove with this method i'm going to try and advance it, or just make it more clear like how many sexy moves to solve which steps, etc; maybe even algorithms . If anyone would like to help me with this please do so.
Ps. I'm a total noob, 1:20 avg with fridrich.
EDIT: Stupid me didn't realize other people tried this, anyway...


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## Mr Cubism (Sep 29, 2010)

I did 25 slow "Sexy method" solves and counted the moves. 
I used URU´R´ to create shortcuts with the corners in step 3,5 and 6. 
The average of moves looks like this:

Cross: 6,5
3x middle edges: 9,5
3x bottom corners: 18
"Yellow cross": 14
The yellow corners: 25
Final two pieces: 12 (1 in 3 = skip) 

Moves in total: 85 ! 


Here is some shortcuts in the next last step:


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## Kirjava (Sep 29, 2010)

loose?


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## Mr Cubism (Sep 29, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> loose?


 
My english is very bad.....sorry...it shall be "lose"............

By the way, I forgot to write the solve (of the 25) with fewest moves: 47 !

Cross: 5
3x middle edges: 8 (one edge already in place and I put down two already connected F2L pairs in the up-layer= lucky!)
3x bottom corners: 5 (only one corner left to insert)
"Yellow cross": 11
The white corners: 18 (one corner already in place)
Final two pieces: 0 skip 

But I don´t recommend this method in the "fewest moves" events


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## Mr Cubism (Oct 25, 2010)

I have trained a little RURU today and got a few sub-30, among them this(I record everything now):





With more recognition training it should be so much better, sub-25 single next goal.....


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## Cride5 (Oct 30, 2010)

Nice solve! Lovin' the rotation-free F2L


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## Cride5 (Nov 2, 2010)

towwdso said:


> ... I'm confused with the last 2 edges part.
> 
> I'm seeing that a bunch of people in this thread are confused too.


 
I've updated the tutorial to try and improve the Last Two Edges section. The final case in the section is now solved by doing:
F2, sexy-move, F2
... it's less moves, and hopefully a little easier than the original technique.


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## mcmullen (Jan 21, 2011)

Cride5 - terrific job with this. I've only been solving the cube for a few weeks, and this is perfect for me. Now my kids want to do it so I've been teaching them this method rather than the standard beginner's methods that I first learned.

A couple of thoughts from a complete beginner's perspective:

I have found that having them solve 8/9 pieces in the first layer (as in the keyhole and 8355 methods?) makes it easier to keep straight where they are, rather than skipping from bottom cross to middle edges and then back down to bottom corners. It may be because I had shown them a layer-by-layer method previously. I personally prefer doing the method as in the guide, because there's more freedom while working on the middle edges.

The kids also have trouble with the last two edges. That always stops them in their tracks, I think because it's the only part of the method that requires remembering which moves go with different states. It was also the stage that took me the longest. I'm curious if there are other possibilities.

Thanks, and again nice job. This should make you famous!


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## MTGjumper (Jan 21, 2011)

Cride might be the next Dan Brown :O


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## Cride5 (Jan 22, 2011)

@mcmullen cheers for the feedback. I guess the decision to go for middle-layer edges first was to make the steps more consistent. As well as making insertion of the mid-layer edges easier, it also means the corners are solved using the same approach all the way through.

For the final 2 edges, there's a sneaky shortcut alg which you an use: *R U R' U R U R'* ... or its mirror *F' U' F U' F' U' F*
These deal with the cases where the final U-layer edge is in the middle layer. Use the RU version if the U-sticker is on the front face, and the FU version where the U sticker is on the right face.

I had a look though the tutorial again, and although everything appears to make sense, it's probably a bit low on words. It almost reads like a computer program lol 
If I can grab some spare time, I think I'll create a 'wordy' or verbose version to add further explanation to the steps. 

As for the next dan brown, I don't think I've qute got my 'Hay world!' quite perfected yet, but I'm workin on it


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## ~Adam~ (Jan 22, 2011)

I looked at the thread a bunch of times but have never really looked at the method, until now.
I've taught over 20 people and I'm definitely going to start teaching this from now on.
Good job.


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## mcmullen (Jan 23, 2011)

crider I definitely think your method is an improvement over 8355 - which already was better than most other beginner methods, at least in terms of avoiding long strings of RF2L'UBOMGWTF to remember. And 8355 doesn't seem to have really become popular yet. Your next task: youtube.


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## mcmullen (Jan 24, 2011)

I was thinking about the "Last Two Edges" stage, and how it seems more difficult than some of the other parts. I'm not good enough of a cuber to know if this works all the time, but what about this:

If you arrange it so that on the top layer you have two correctly placed top-layer edges, one incorrectly placed edge on top (e.g., the red-yellow edge in the position of the blue-yellow edge), and the last middle-layer edge, then when you place the last edge from the keyhole into the top layer, everything should fall into place. I think. 

For example if you have two of the three edges done, you can just place the third edge not in the correct spot but in the spot next to it, and put the remaining yellow edge in the keyhole. Then just solve the last edge.

I'm not sure if this always works or if it is easier than the other methods, but it does at least avoid the longer algorithms or knowing what to do with different states. What do you think?


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## Cubing (Jan 28, 2011)

I want to hug this method.


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## Cride5 (Feb 13, 2011)

OK, so I've added a new 'explanatory' version of the tutorial here:
http://cube.crider.co.uk/beginner.php?v=full

There are also a few edits of the standard (concise) version. Hopefully it will help to clarify some of the more difficult parts, particularly in the final-two-edges phase. As always, any feedback is welcomed. 

@mcmullen your approach is an interesting idea. I sometimes find myself purposfully placing an incorrect third edge in some situations during a sexy speedsolve. The problem is that it only works in two out of four possible scenarios. It doesn't work when the fourth edge is left in the top layer after the third has been 'incorrectly' placed.

What is actually happening is that the choice of where the first two edges are placed creates the possibility of a parity situation arising. It means that if the rest of the edges are placed in the correct position relative the first two, then it will end with the R or F layer rotated by 90°. It is because an odd number of replacements or 'swaps' are required to place all the U layer edges correctly (relative to the first two). The way to fix this is to assume that the first two are not in fact solved, and to re-place them in a position that is rotated 90° from where they currently are.


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## Slowsolving (Aug 25, 2011)

Is this the right place to ask about questions about the Sexy Method? I'm new and am trying anything to solve my cube!

I've been through Sexy a few times and can make it to "3x more corners". I turn the cube over and am trying to put the white/top face back together, somehow the top edges get wacky. One edge is in the front right slot so I assume it gets fixed later but I get three messed up edges and loose track of where the corners live at that point. Any idea what's going wrong?

(In case it matters, I memorized enough of CFOP to do 2FL, which I will complete up until one unsolved middle corner, that becomes the slot and I start Sexy method at 3X Top Layer)


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## michaelfivez (Aug 26, 2011)

1 thing what beginners often don't see is that you can place a middle layer edge to the top in 2 ways. They often always try 1 way (for example R) and try again with u moves in between but don't see that you can use F .

And in 3x Bottom Layer Corners you forgot to say that you have to turn the bottom layer back (pretty obvious but still )
And in 3x More corners if after step 3 you have a piece that doesn't belong in the bottom layer and you go back to step 1 you'll be stuck in an infinite loop I think (to fix you have to turn the bottom layer till it's alligned again)


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