Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today's Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Connections: Sports Edition leans heavily on categories that use general words, but when it gets into personal names, the difficulty goes up. If you don't know the top performers in, say, American football, or Olympic swimming, you might be reduced to guessing. I did some of that today. Read on for hints and answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle.

For now, the game is in beta, which means the Times is testing it out to see if it's popular before adding it to the site's Games app. You can play it daily for now for free — and then we'll have to see if it sticks around. 

Read more: NYT Has a Connections Game for Sports Fans. I Tried It

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: Throw it.

Green group hint: Gridiron plans.

Blue group hint: Swimmer winners.

Purple group hint: Who made your bat?

Answers for today's Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Shoot.

Green group: Football offensive strategies.

Blue group: Gold medal-winning female swimmers.

Purple group: Baseball equipment makers.

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 shoot. The four answers are fire, fling, heave and launch.

The green words in today's Connections

The theme is football offensive strategies. The four answers are option, pistol, spread and West Coast.

The blue words in today's Connections

The theme is gold medal-winning female swimmers. The four answers are Franklin, King, Ledecky and Manuel.

The purple words in today's Connections

The theme is baseball equipment makers. The four answers are DeMarini, Easton, Louisville Slugger and Rawlings.