PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now, onto our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have sixty seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?
CARL KASELL: Tom Bodett has the lead, Peter. He has four points. Amy Dickinson and Paula Poundstone are tied for second. They both have two points each.
SAGAL: All right. All right, we have flipped a coin and Amy has decided to go second, so Paula, you're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in that blank.
Accused of using campaign funds to hide a mistress, former presidential candidate blank went on trial this week.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Oh my heavens. Edwards.
SAGAL: Yes, John Edwards.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The Justice Department arrested a former BP engineer on Tuesday for destroying text messages that detailed the blank.
POUNDSTONE: The blowup of the oil rig.
SAGAL: Right, the Gulf oil spill.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the blank.
POUNDSTONE: The death penalty.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: According to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center, for the first time since the Great Depression more blanks are leaving the US than coming in.
POUNDSTONE: Mexicans.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Because they are kindred spirits, the village of Dull, England has announced plans to forge a partnership with the town of blank, Oregon.
POUNDSTONE: Boring.
SAGAL: Yes, Boring, Oregon.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: A soccer ball found in Alaska this week was traced back to a Japanese teenager who lost it during last year's blank.
POUNDSTONE: Tsunami.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week People Magazine picked singer blank as 2012's most beautiful woman.
POUNDSTONE: Beyonce.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A New York woman is suing her boss for firing her not long after she blanked.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
POUNDSTONE: Donated a kidney to her.
SAGAL: Yes, donated a kidney to save her boss' life.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Debbie Stevens' boss needed a kidney, so Stevens donated her own kidney to a stranger so her boss could get one in exchange. Then the boss fired her. Stevens is suing, but her boss defended herself saying, yeah, sure the kidney was nice, but could she maybe have donated a little extra effort on the spreadsheet, huh?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Paula do on our quiz?
KASELL: Paula had a perfect round, Peter. Eight correct answers, sixteen more points, she now has eighteen points and the lead.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: You got every one right.
AMY DICKINSON: On fire.
POUNDSTONE: Yeah.
SAGAL: That may not have ever happened before. That was really impressive.
All right, Amy, you're up next. Fill in the blank. This week the biggest spring nor'easter since 1928 dumped up to two feet of blank in some areas of New England.
DICKINSON: Snow.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week the Supreme Court heard testimony regarding Arizona's controversial blank law.
DICKINSON: Immigration.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week South Korea and China warned that there would be consequences if blank goes ahead with its planned nuclear test.
DICKINSON: North Korea.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The Justice Department opened a probe this week into allegations of bribery by blank in Mexico.
DICKINSON: Walmart.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: An Idaho man is facing felony assault charges after forcing another man to blank.
DICKINSON: Oh, he forced him, he had a pellet gun, he had to moonwalk.
SAGAL: Yes, to do the moonwalk.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: On Monday Rudy Giuliani endorsed Republican presidential candidate blank.
DICKINSON: Mitt Romney.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
TOM BODETT: Help me.
SAGAL: Last weekend, Chicago White Sox pitcher Phil Humber pitched the 21st blank in baseball history.
DICKINSON: Perfect game.
SAGAL: Yes, indeed, 27 up, 27 down.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: A Scottish coastguard pilot was suspended this week after using his rescue helicopter to blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
DICKINSON: To...
SAGAL: Yes.
DICKINSON: ...buzz his old high school.
SAGAL: No. He used it to go pick up steaks from his favorite butcher.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The coast guard crew had just finished a training exercise, and decided to swing by the Orkney Islands to pick up some steaks for dinner, because, you know, they were in the area.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And they had a helicopter. The Shetland Coast Guard has suspended the pilot and says the shopping trip was completely unacceptable, because he forgot the beer.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Amy do on our quiz?
KASELL: Amy had seven correct answers, for fourteen more points. She now has sixteen points, but Paula maintains the lead with eighteen.
SAGAL: All right.
POUNDSTONE: Oh boy.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Paula is dominant. So, how many then does Tom need to win?
KASELL: Seven to tie, eight to win outright.
SAGAL: Oh man. This is going to be tough.
BODETT: I don't know.
SAGAL: Here we go, Tom.
POUNDSTONE: This is a nail biter.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: For the game, Tom, fill in the blank. A retailer in South Korea has suspended the sale of US beef after blank was confirmed in California.
BODETT: Mad cow.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Two current and two former Transportation Security Administration screeners at LAX were charged with blank on Wednesday.
BODETT: Drug smuggling.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Rupert Murdoch admitted Thursday that his company had been involved in a cover up over the blank scandal.
BODETT: The phone tapping.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police in Romania pulled over a naked woman riding a motorcycle and issued her a ticket for blanking.
BODETT: Being naked riding a motorcycle.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: No, that was fine. But she was doing it without a helmet. That was not fine.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Intellectual property concerns emerged after online search engine blank released its new online storage service.
BODETT: Google.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In a medical first, this week a blank was re-donated and transplanted for a second time.
BODETT: Oh the lady's boss' kidney was given back after she was...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It wasn't hers. It was a kidney, not hers.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: When asked if he sent a topless photo of himself to a court employee, a Detroit area judge said blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
BODETT: I'm guilty.
SAGAL: I'm going to give it to you. That's what he said, but what he really said was "hot dog, yep, that's me, no shame to my game."
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Becoming my hero. Wayne County Judge Wade McCree has your writ of habeas corpus right here ladies. Speaking to reporters this week, he downplayed the fact that he had sent half-naked pictures of himself to female court employees, saying hey, I'm shirtless at the YMCA every day when I go swimming. And then, this is true, offered reporters a free show saying, "You can always get that here and now."
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, did Tom do well enough to win?
KASELL: He needed seven to tie, but Tom had just six correct answers.
SAGAL: Oh my god, so...
KASELL: So with eighteen points...
POUNDSTONE: Oh my heavens.
KASELL: Paula Poundstone is this week's champion.
POUNDSTONE: There it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Dominant Paula.
POUNDSTONE: This is an historic event.
BODETT: Yeah, it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.