All six 3×3 centre blocks are solved.
Keep FL and FR as working positions. Completed groups are stored in U and D.
1. Choose a midge as the reference
The midge is the middle piece of a three-piece edge. Find a midge, read its two colours, then locate both wings with that same pair of colours. A finished edge has three matching stickers on each of its two sides.
Wings matching each other with a reversed midge form a checkerboard, not a finished edge. Always include the midge in your check.
2. Bring the pieces into the working band
Use outer moves to put the target midge at FR. Put a matching wing at FL in the upper or lower horizontal slice where a wide turn can carry it to FR. Arrange the colours to match the midge on the front side as well as the right side.
To turn the whole FR group over, use:
R U R' F R' F' R
This flips the group as a unit; it does not flip a single wing independently. The example below isolates that movement so you can see how the wing positions and midge orientation change.
3. Add a wing, protect the match and reverse the slice turn
Use Uw or Uw′ to bring the selected upper-band wing alongside the midge. To work on the lower-band wing, reorient the cube so that band becomes your upper working band, then set up FL and FR again.
After making a useful match, move the group out of the active slice using outer moves, bring an unpaired group into the working slot, and undo the wide turn to restore centres. A two-piece match is worth preserving, but do not count it as a finished edge yet.
Bring the partial pair back into a working position with its matching pieces outside the next active slice, then add its remaining wing. Check all three pieces on both faces before storing the full group.
4. Store eight complete groups
Move finished groups into U and D with outer turns. Keep bringing unpaired groups into the middle working band. If a storage slot already contains a finished group, choose another slot so you do not replace useful work with an unpaired group unnecessarily.
Restoring slices after each operation makes it easier to track the centres. Once four completed edges are above and four below, restore all centre blocks and leave the four unpaired groups in the middle band.
5. Switch methods for the last four
With little storage space left, join–store–restore becomes awkward. The next lesson uses slice–flip–slice-back to exchange selected wings while returning centre rows. Do not disturb a stored full edge merely to free a temporary slot.
Watch, then try
Work through an example
Start by stepping through the example one move at a time. This example demonstrates a specific action. Use the lesson’s setup instructions to recognise when that action applies to your own scramble.
Watch one worked example
Study the FR flip before using it in pairing: it reverses the whole front-right group and preserves centre colours. This is an orientation drill, not a complete pairing operation.
Example grip: yellow up · blue front · red right at the start. Follow any written whole-cube rotations.
0 / 7
Loading 3D cube…
Prepared position · 0 / 7 moves
Use Next move to follow the sequence.
Drag to inspect other faces. When the cube has focus, use the arrow keys to rotate the view.
Copy this exact example on your own cube
Start with a solved 5×5, with yellow on top and blue at the front. Apply the setup below from left to right to create the example’s starting position. Keep this example separate from the scramble you’re solving throughout the course.
R' F R F' R U' R'Then follow the lesson sequence. If your cube has a different colour scheme, use your own colours to identify the corresponding pieces.
Compare the starting position and the result
Drag each cube to inspect its other faces.
Explain it to yourself
Check your understanding
Now use your own cube
Your turn
Choose a midge and find its two wings with the same colours. Join each wing to the midge, store the complete three-piece group and restore the slices. Continue until eight groups are complete.
Open a 5×5 Digital Cube for practiceThe Digital Cube opens in a new tab so you can keep this lesson open while you practise. Check for yourself whether you’ve met the lesson goal, as the Digital Cube doesn’t assess your result.
If you get stuck
I counted twelve edges but some have mixed stickers.
Only count three-piece groups matching on both faces. A wing–midge pair still needs its third piece.
The correct wings surround a reversed midge.
That checkerboard pattern means the edge is still incomplete. Use the slice–flip–slice-back method in the next lesson. If only one edge is still unpaired, check the last-edge parity lesson.
Before moving on
Check your result
Your cube at this stage
Eight complete edge groups
Four completed groups are stored above and four below. The four vertical edge groups in the middle are still unpaired; all centres are restored.
Confirm these on your cube. Watching the animation alone does not complete the lesson.
Tick each item when you can do it yourself.