Solving a Rubik's cube

It was one of those things that was always around in my home during childhood and now and something that I would twist into various permutations and combinations without giving it much thought and deciding it was impossible to solve and was made only to screw up with our minds-not that I tried to figure out if there was a logic to it until last week when I saw a friend(thanks Herbert) diligently going at it and actually finishing it.That was that and I HAD to do it too.Read a little about it and I know for a fact that kid me and a few years ago me would have NEVER had the appreciation behind the thought process behind this 3x3x3 mosaic patterned puzzle.What on earth was going on in Rubik's mind when he created this??!Anyway it was introduced to the world in the year I was born and Google says that about 3% of the world's population can solve to Rubik's cube and I'm so proud to declare that I now belong to that 3 percent having solved it FINALLY after 2 days of watching algorithm videos(thanks YouTube) I also did it probably about 10 times now to verify that I can actually do it and am not fooling myself.So here I am going to write the steps I did in detail just to remember this moment.Pretty sure there are easier and faster ways but this one worked for me and I'm happy with it.

To begin my way was just a series of what I call 'Righty alg' and 'Lefty alg'

Righty alg basically means the right face of the cube is moved up,top face is moved left,right face is moved down and top face is moved right(↑⇽↓⇾)

Lefty alg means the left face of the cube is moved up,top face is moved right,left face is moved down and top face is moved left (↑➝↓⇽)

The Rubik's cube basically is solved in layers.To begin first make the daisy-this is the yellow centre with 4 white 'petals' around it (middle cubes,not corner)

Next look at the corresponding pieces below the 'petals' and match it with the centre cube in the middle layer one at a time.As soon as you match the centre,turn the face twice to get the 'petal' at the bottom.Do this for all 4 sides and voila!Flip the cube over and look at the white cross.These two steps took me several tries and now it seems so easy-peasy!

Next look at the corner pieces at the topmost face or first layer -these will be a combination of three colours of which one is white.So the aim is to get all the whites below and finish the white face.This is done by turning the face to match the other two colours with the centres. Always remember the centres are constant and your guide to this puzzle.Once you turn the face around to match the colours,a series of righty algs will get the white to the bottom and the right place.Keep doing this for all 4 sides and soon you'll see the bottom layer is done!Always deal with the whites on the top,you may find yourself in a situation where the white is at the bottom but improperly aligned,it takes half a righty alg to get it back on top and then you align it colour wise and do the righty algs again to get it to the right place.

Then we go to the middle later.Most of this is already solved since the centre is a constant and you just have two colours to deal with o the sides as opposed to three in the other layers so all you need to focus on are the side cubes which you'll find as the middle cube on the topmost layer or on the side itself but in the wrong place.Let's first approach situation 1 i.e.topmost middle cube to be moved to the side.Look at the colours on top and the bottom of the cube.Twist the top face to match bottom colour of the cube to the centre cube of the middle face and look at the colour on top of the cube-decide whether that colour needs to match the face on the right or face on the left.

If left,you have a series of steps to follow-Turn the top face in the opposite direction in this case right,then do a lefty alg,turn the entire cube left and do a righty alg and see the find your cube in the correct place just like that!

If the cube needs to move right-turn the top face to the left,do a righty alg,turn the cube to the right and do a lefty alg.

Repeat as necessary and just like that the second layer is done.When I first did this,it just felt like magic!In a situation where you have the cubes on the side but improperly aligned,just do the same as above with a yellow-color middle cube and then find the cubes interchanged allowing you to do the steps as explained above.

So that's 2/3rds of the cube done and now to tackle the last layer.We need to form what is known as the yellow cross.Here because it is the topmost layer,the righty and lefty alg will feel a bit different from the way we usually do it.It took me a while to get used to the movement and you will need to as well because solving the top layer needs A LOT of righty and left algs. So as a refresher-

For the top most layer-the righty alg means moving the right side face up,moving the top face sideways towards the left,move the right side face down and and moving the top face sideways towards the right.(↑⇽↓⇾)It's essentially the same as what has been done previously but just feels a bit different since now you are working at the top with no layer above it.It had me confused for a while.Left would mean left side face up,top face sideways towards the right,left face down and top face sideways back left.(↑➝↓⇽)Looking at he arrows always helped me when I was confused.

Look at the yellow centre.You'll find yourself in three situations-a line,an angle and a dot.This is ONLY in reference to the yellows around the centre cube.

In a line situation i.e yellow on either sides of the centre yellow,make sure your line is horizontal and do this:

First turn the front face to the right,do a righty alg and turn the front face back up.

In the angle situation,make sure that your yellow cube next to the centre is on the right and do this:

Turn the front and middle face together to the right,do a righty alg and move both faces up again.I have had situations where I had to do this several times to get my cross.So don't worry if you haven't as long as the cubes in the middle and bottom layers are in the right positions.Keep checking because a wrong step can change those and you'll just have to do the steps above to rectify it and put them back in their right places.

In the dot situation,do the same steps as the line situation.It'll create an angle situation and well,you know what to do :)

That's yellow cross done so all you need are the corners back up to yellow.This is when a different set of algorithms come in the picture what I memorised as RUR' URUU R' so in this make sure that your yellow corner cube is on the left side(either top or front face NOT the left face) and do the new alg. Alphabets explained below:

R-Right side face up

U-top most face turn sideways left

R'-Right side face down(sound familiar?Yes it IS same as the first three steps of the righty alg)Keep doing it till all the yellows are on top.This can be a pretty frustrating step because sometimes it takes longer than necessary if you forget to align the cubes-remember the left lower corner should ALWAYS be yellow when you're doing it.If it isn't then align your cube to make it so unless you just have a cross on top,in which case look at the left corner on the front(not left) face and make sure that is yellow.Trust me it WILL happen!

At this point,you'll either get all correct and be done with the puzle or the middle cubes wont be aligned.If former-congratulations you did it!!If not we just need to do a few more rightys and leftys and it will be done-Just remember the pattern and number of times and we're good to go.So two situations in this case-all 4 middle cubes incorrect or three middle cubes incorrect.If latter,make sure the solved face in the front(not white or yellow) and do one righty alg,one lefty alg followed by 5 righty algs and 5 lefty algs and that's all it takes!Again you may have to it probably one more time to get all the errant cubes back in place so remember 1R+1L+5R+5L and taaadaaaaaaaaaa 

I'm kind of having a bitter sweet moment having solved the puzzle because it doesn't feel like an annoying enigma anymore which is actually a good thing right?But then it's me and I'm strange like that.I am tempted to pick up the tougher modified cubes at this point but for now,I managed to solve the Rubik's cube before we(me and the cube) turned 40!!So yay me for finishing another thing on my bucket list!Birthday countdown kinda-sorta begins.

-Vive Valeque♡

Kavita