The 5×5, often called the Professor's Cube, is the next step up from a 4×4. It has fixed center stickers (the very middle of each face never moves), which actually makes it easier in one important way: no parity. If you ever get stuck, the 5×5 solver will solve any scramble in under a minute.
Solving a 5×5 by hand uses the same reduction method as a 4×4: build the centers, pair the edges, then solve like a 3×3. Because the centers have a fixed middle sticker, the relative colors are already determined — you just need to fill in the eight outer center pieces of each face.
Start with white. Place the four central edge pieces of the white face around the white middle. Then add the four corner pieces of the center (the diagonally placed ones). The whole white center should look like a solid 3×3 white square.
Move to yellow on the opposite face, then to one of the side colors (say red). For the side colors, you must build them so that turning adjacent layers respects the correct color scheme. The classic algorithm to insert one center piece without breaking the others is:
Rw U R' U' Rw'
Build the last two centers (orange and blue, for example) at the same time using a "commutator" approach: insert a piece, do a setup move, insert another, undo the setup. With practice you'll do all six centers in 60–90 seconds.
A 5×5 has 12 edges, each made of 3 pieces. The middle piece (midge) is unique and defines which two colors the edge is. The two wings on either side must match the midge.
The standard "3-2-3" technique works like this: bring two unpaired edges into the top-front and top-back slots, slice the middle layer to align them, do a setup turn, then slice back. The most common algorithm is:
Uw' (R U R' F R' F' R) Uw
For the last two pairs, you'll need a "last-two-edges" trick. There are several equivalent algorithms — one common one is:
Rw U R' U' Rw' R U R' U' R U R' U' R
Once all 12 edges are paired, the cube is reduced.
The 5×5 has no parity in the final 3×3 stage, because the existence of fixed centers means every state reachable on the reduced cube is also reachable on a real 3×3. Solve using your favorite 3×3 method — the beginner method guide works perfectly.
Rw, Uw) move center pieces too. The
edge-pairing algorithms above are designed to leave centers
untouched, but if you improvise, watch the centers carefully.The 5×5 has more pieces than any human algorithm can recover from mid-solve. If you make a mistake and aren't sure where, take a photo of all six faces, enter them into the 5×5 solver, and follow the solution from your current state. It's a quick way to get back on track without resetting the whole cube.
← Back to xCubes Solver