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The cross, actually a plus sign, can be made completely intuitively. Nevertheless, it is very important to do it fast in order to get a good solving time. After a week practice, you should be able to get to at most 10 seconds. A solution to the cross can always be found in 8 moves or less. I recommend starting with the same color every time. Most people prefer white, because it stands out. Now the real speedcubers make that cross on the bottom, which seems a little weird, but it helps in looking ahead to the second layer.

You actually only need four simple algoritms: