Need help with today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.

Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores.

A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes one answer in each of the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.

You can access Monday’s game here.

Today’s difficulty

The difficulty score is an average rating from our testers, who play the game in advance to check for quality and accuracy.

Game No. 28’s difficulty: 3.5 out of 5

Hints

Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.

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Yellow: SPARE

Green: STRIKE

Blue: UNIT

Purple: FORCE

The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!

View hints for the Oct. 20 puzzle here.

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(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic)