Lesson 4

Corner Solving

Corners work just like edges, but the buffer is UBL and we use a Y-perm to swap UBL with UFR. Setup moves bring the target corner to UFR without disturbing UBL.

The Corner Cycle

  1. Look at the UBL corner. Read its letter.
  2. Find the target corner and set it up to UFR.
  3. Execute the Y-perm to swap UBL and UFR.
  4. Undo the setup.
  5. Repeat until corners are solved.

Corner Swap Algorithm (Y-Perm)

F R U' R' U' R U R' F' R U R' U' R' F R F'

Swaps UBL and UFR corners. It also swaps two edges, but edges are already solved at this point — which is why we do corners last.

Corner Setup Examples

UFR (C)
(none)
Target position
UBR (B)
R2
Bring UBR to UFR
UFL (D)
F2
Bring UFL to UFR

Special Case: Twisted Corners

Just like a flipped edge, a corner that sits in its own slot but twisted is not solved. Tracing skips only fully solved corners, so a twisted-in-place corner never appears in your main cycle — you pick it up afterwards as a new cycle (cycle break).

  • Start a new cycle on the twisted corner and read through its stickers. Shooting them rotates the corner back into its solved orientation.
  • Which sticker you start from changes how many shots it takes — the simulator on this site always starts at the alphabetically-first sticker, which is one valid choice, not always the shortest. (The full-solve simulator notes the same caveat.)
  • Beginner trap: corners are the last step, so it's easy to forget that a corner can be home but mis-twisted. Always check orientation before removing the blindfold.

Scramble the cube and look at the UFL corner (its stickers are D / L / Q). It is in its slot but twisted:

Resulting corner memo:
CBJPDLQHTWKOM

The twisted UFL corner appears as its own run through the piece's stickers — D, L, Q— instead of being skipped as “already home.”