Yau: the cross first, and don't undo it

Yau isn't a different method: it's this same Reduction with the phases reordered. You build the 3×3 cross before pairing the edges, and from then on everything else has to be done without undoing it. That's the whole method. What you gain is what you save at the end: by the time you reach the 3×3, the cross is already there.

i This page assumes you already solve the 4×4 with Reduction: it doesn't explain how to build the centers or pair the edges, it links to it instead. If you're starting from zero, begin with Reduction.

Like in Reduction, some pieces show up in gray: that's what doesn't matter at that point. Here you'll also always see the cross edges in color, because they're exactly the ones you can't break.

↔ Drag to rotate the cube

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