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Today's Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one, requiring some pretty diverse knowledge. If you're struggling with today's puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn't appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic's own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Where games happen.

Green group hint: The Big Smoke.

Blue group hint: Hope you're skilled with a stick.

Purple group hint: Coach's resume.

Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Fields of play, familiarly.

Green group: Toronto pro teams.

Blue group: Terms used in billiards.

Purple group: Coached by John Calipari.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today's Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today's Connections

The theme is fields of play, familiarly. The four answers are diamond, gridiron, hardwood and rink.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is Toronto pro teams. The four answers are Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors and Tempo.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is terms used in billiards. The four answers are break, English, rack and scratch.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is coached by John Calipari. The four answers are Minutemen, Nets, Razorbacks and Wildcats.

Quick tips for Connections: Sports Edition

#1: Don't grab for the easiest group. For each word, think about other sports categories it might fit in – is this a word that can be used in football, or to describe scoring options?

#2: Second meanings are important. The puzzle loves to use last names and even college names that mean other things, to fool you into thinking they are words, not names.

#3: And the opposite is also true. Words like HURTS might seem like a regular word, but it's also the last name of at least one pro athlete.