  Analyses for the NICER data indicate that there is no significant variation
of the compact star radii within the mass range of 1.4 to 2.0 solar masses.
Yamamoto et al. [Phys. Rev. C 108, 035811 (2023)] concluded recently that
``this feature cannot be reproduced by the hadronic matter due to the softening
of the equation of state (EoS) by hyperon mixing, suggesting the possible
existence of quark phases in neutron-star interiors.'' Using a collection of
162 purely nucleonic, hyperonic, and quarkish EoSs from CompOSE database and
some other works, we verify that hyperons indeed lead to a significant
difference in radii of stars of 1.4 and 2.0 solar masses, which diminishes in
the presence of quarks. We compare the shapes of the mass-radius curves and
show that hyperons and quarks in the neutron star cores prefer a particular
curve shape with backbending. It is argued that the shape {is controlled by the
density dependence} of the nuclear symmetry energy. We draw attention to the
existence of a class of purely hadronic relativistic mean-field EoSs with
scalar-field dependent hadron masses and coupling constants that satisfy the
known constraints on the EoSs including the analyses of the new NICER data and
the above requirement of no significant variation of the neutron star radii.
