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Today's Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. 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: Whack!

Green group hint: Hoops team monikers.

Blue group hint: Common last name.

Purple group hint: Not 2 or 3.

Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Hard-hit baseball.

Green group: NBA teams with singular nicknames.

Blue group: ____ Johnson.

Purple group: What "1" might mean.

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 hard-hit baseball. The four answers are frozen rope, laser, liner and screamer.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is NBA teams with singular nicknames. The four answers are Heat, Jazz, Magic and Thunder.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is ____ Johnson. The four answers are Flau'jae, Gus, Lane and Randy.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is what "1" might mean. The four answers are fastball, pitcher, point guard and top rank.