crunchatize.me

I recognize PLL with a combination of “Blocks” and “Bars” A block is two or three connected pieces, like so:

A bar is a set of connected corners. I’ve put bars in red wherever possible. The term “bar” is taken from 2×2 PBL recognition, so a bar may or may not include the edge in between the corners. (If it does, it’s also a 1×3 block):

You can tell the permutation of a layer (and its parity) by comparing blocks and bars in most cases. I’ve included some lookahead information for square-1 permutation, but the recognition part applies equally to 4×4 PLL. Listed is which EP case each permutation goes to with a proper Vandenbergh solution, and then information on 1-look permutation if it applies.
The E/X/Q cases are difficult to recognize with this technique, so I’ve added some notes to the end of the page detailing how I recognize these cases.

No parity:

U: Solved CP, goes to U, J 1 J to solve

Z: Solved CP, goes to Z

H: Solved CP, goes to H, N 1 N to solve

A: Adj CP, goes to U, J 2 J to solve

T: Adj CP, goes to U, J 4 J to solve

Ga: Adj CP, goes to U, NJ to solve

Gb: Adj CP, goes to U, JN to solve

J: Adj CP, goes to solved, J or JJ or NJ or JN to solve

R: Adj CP, goes to U

Ph: Adj CP, goes to U

Y: Opp CP, goes to U, J 5 J to solve

V: Opp CP, goes to U

N: Opp CP, goes to solved, J 6 J or N to solve

E: Opp CP, goes to Z

Parity:

Opp Edges: Solved CP, goes to opp

Adj Edges: Solved CP, goes to adj

O: Solved CP, goes to O

W: Solved CP, goes to W

Opp corners: opp CP, goes to opp

Adj corners: Adj CP, goes to Adj

K: Adj CP, goes to adj

P: Adj CP, goes to opp or adj

B: Adj CP, goes to adj

D: Adj CP, goes to opp

C: Adj CP, goes to W or O

M: Adj CP, goes to W

S: Opp CP, goes to adj

X: Opp CP, goes to O

Q: Opp CP, goes to O

Notes on E/X/Q:
These are definitely the hardest to recognize between. The trick is to look at two edges, and the corner between them, and apply the 3-color rule. If there are 3 colors, that means EP is correct, so you have an E-perm. If there are 2 colors, you have an X, and if there are 4 colors, you have a Q.

E

X

Q