PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now, on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will have 60 seconds in which to answer as many fill in the blank questions as they can. Each correct answer is worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?
CARL KASELL: We have a tie for first place, Peter. Charlie Pierce and Roxanne Roberts both have three points and Brian Babylon has two.
SAGAL: Brian, you're in third place. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Because of his stance on same-sex marriage, Newsweek called President Obama the first blank.
BRIAN BABYLON: Gay president.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Citing evidence errors, a judge postponed Ratko Mladic's war crimes trial at blank.
BABYLON: The Hague.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Although he said he was not suspending his presidential bid, this week blank announced he would no longer campaign.
BABYLON: Ron Paul.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Best known for songs like "Last Dance," disco queen blank died at age 63.
BABYLON: Donna Summer.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Apple has fixed a glitch that caused iPhone assistant Siri to say blank when asked to name the best Smartphone.
BABYLON: Android.
SAGAL: No, the Nokia Lumia 900.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Google announced that it has revamped its search engine to make it search more like a blank would.
BABYLON: Person.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A burglar in Utah made a clean getaway but was easily caught after police discovered he left blank at the crime scene.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
BABYLON: His wallet.
SAGAL: No, his homework.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It was a tough case to crack. Police experts were forced to carefully unzip the backpack that the high school thief had accidentally left behind and read the name on the homework inside. The kid was quickly arrested, but not before begging police for a note for his teacher explaining that his homework had been taken into custody.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Brian do on our quiz?
KASELL: Brian had five correct answers, for ten more points. He now has twelve points, and Brian has taken the lead.
SAGAL: Well done, all right.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
BABYLON: Wow.
SAGAL: All right, we have flipped a coin. Roxanne has elected to go last. So Charlie, you're up next. Because of fears that the country will not stay with the Euro, people in the country of blank withdrew hundreds of millions from their banks.
CHARLIE PIERCE: Greece.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week the defense rested without mistress Rielle Hunter or defendant blank taking the stand.
PIERCE: John Edwards.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to a new census report, more than half of the children born in the US last year were blank.
PIERCE: Minority.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Officials, though I guess not anymore...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Officials at a Swedish prison have warned a prisoner to immediately stop what they describe as intentional blank.
PIERCE: Intentional pan fluting.
SAGAL: Fart attacks.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This week the Social Security Administration revealed that Jacob and Sophia were the most popular blanks in 2011.
PIERCE: The names.
SAGAL: Baby names.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In an interview in GQ, 18 year old pop star blank said quote "I've had a beer, like, before."
PIERCE: Justin Bieber.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Two men who robbed an internet cafe in Columbia were caught because they forgot to blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
PIERCE: Log off.
SAGAL: Yes, log out of Facebook.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The two thieves decided to check their Facebook pages before robbing the café. But when police discovered that one of the thieves had forgotten to log out, the gig was up. They quickly arrested him, but not until they had changed his status to 'going to jail now LOL.'
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Charlie do on our quiz?
KASELL: Charlie had six correct answers, for twelve more points. He now has fifteen points, and Charlie has taken the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: I'm going to ask the question that I know Roxanne is eager to ask. How many does she need to win?
KASELL: Six to tie, seven to win outright.
SAGAL: Here we go, Roxanne, this is for the game. This week House Speaker John Boehner said that he would not allow an increase in the blank without an equal number of spending cuts.
ROXANNE ROBERTS: The deficit, debt.
SAGAL: It's the debt ceiling is what we're looking for.
ROBERTS: Oh, so - no.
SAGAL: It's not just the deficit.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: In a ceremony on Tuesday, blank was sworn in as the new President of France.
ROBERTS: Hollande, is that you pronounce it?
SAGAL: Francois Hollande, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Former News of the World Editor Rebekah Brooks was charged this week in connection with the blank scandal in Britain.
ROBERTS: The phone hacking.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A new study released this week shows that people who drink blank may live a little longer than people who don't.
ROBERTS: Coffee.
SAGAL: Ha, ha, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Researchers at a lake in Germany are blaming the death of hundreds of fish on blank.
ROBERTS: Is this the statue that fell in?
SAGAL: No.
ROBERTS: OK.
SAGAL: It's the peeing swimmers.
ROBERTS: Oh, OK.
SAGAL: Eleven million viewers tuned in last Sunday to see the finale of the prime-time soap blank.
ROBERTS: Oh "Desperate Housewives."
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Chris Matthews, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anderson Cooper were among the players in the game show blank's Power Player series.
ROBERTS: "Jeopardy."
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Walmart made news this week when a customer at a Washington State lawn and garden center was blanked.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
ROBERTS: Mulched.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bitten by a rattlesnake. It's just the latest in a string of incidents involving snakes ambushing Walmart shoppers. This week, a rattlesnake masquerading a stick took down a Washington man who bent to pick it up there in their garden center. All across America, hardworking local snakes are upset that the big box snakes are coming in and taking away their biting business.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Carl, did Roxanne do well enough to win?
KASELL: Well, Roxanne needed at least six to tie, but Rox had just five correct answers. So, with fifteen points, Charlie Pierce is this week's champion.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Congratulations. And how long do you think it will take you, Roxanne, to get over the whole deficit/debt ceiling thing? I'm guessing never.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: When we meet in the old quiz show home, you'll be like, "you know, it's the same thing, Peter."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.