PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now it's time to move on to our final, 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 now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?
CARL KASELL: Roxanne Roberts has the lead, Peter. She has four points. Mo Rocca and P.J. O'Rourke are tied for second; they both have two.
SAGAL: I see. We have flipped a coin. P.J. has elected to go first. Here we go. You're up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. The number of people applying for blank benefits dropped this week for the first time in five weeks.
P.J. O'ROURKE: Job.
SAGAL: Yes, unemployment benefits.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After he was sentenced to life in prison, ousted Egyptian leader blank suffered a health crisis.
O'ROURKE: Hussein Musarek, Hussein Mubarak.
SAGAL: Yes, Hosni Mubarak, but close enough.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: Whatever.
SAGAL: Saying it quote deliberately ignored the risk of head injuries, 2,000 former players joined this week in a lawsuit against the blank.
O'ROURKE: National Football League.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Best known for books like "Fahrenheit 451," "Dandelion Wine" and...
O'ROURKE: Ray Bradbury.
SAGAL: Yes, Ray Bradbury died this week at age 91.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A man accused of brandishing a knife and mugging a couple at a Connecticut casino says he was just blanking.
O'ROURKE: Yeah, he was just blanking, you know.
SAGAL: It happens.
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: That was the best excuse he could come up with.
SAGAL: He was sleepwalking.
O'ROURKE: I see.
SAGAL: Security experts said that approximately 7.5 million users of LinkedIn and the dating site eHarmony had their blanks stolen this week.
O'ROURKE: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: I shouldn't - identities.
SAGAL: Close enough. Yes, passwords. Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy was put on the disabled list after he broke his hand while blanking.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: Let's just leave it that way because this is family radio, OK.
SAGAL: All right. He broke his hand while looking for a missing sock.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Lucroy was reaching under his bed during the sock search when his wife shifted a suitcase and it landed smack on his hand.
O'ROURKE: Yeah, that's what she says.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: I don't think you're using that joke right, P.J.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did P.J. do on our quiz?
KASELL: P.J. had five correct answers, for ten more points. He now has twelve points, and P.J. has taken the lead.
SAGAL: Well done, all right.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Mo, you are up next. Here we go. Ready?
MO ROCCA: Yeah.
SAGAL: Fill in the blank. Hospitalized on Monday, Prince Phillip was forced to miss the queen's blank.
ROCCA: Her Diamond Jubilee.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In the wake of increased violence in Syria, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called for blank's ouster.
ROCCA: Assad's.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Massachusetts teenager was sentenced to a year in jail for a deadly car crash that happened because he was blanking.
ROCCA: Texting.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Best known as the host of the game show "Family Feud," blank died this week at age 79.
ROCCA: Richard Dawson.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Swedish man arrested with several sticks of dynamite claimed he thought blank.
ROCCA: He thought that the sticks of dynamite were sausage or...
SAGAL: Thanks exactly right. He thought they were sausages.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: It's amazing how you did that. Seventy-five years after her doomed flight, scientists say a jar of freckle cream may answer the mystery of what happened to blank.
ROCCA: Amelia Earhart.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Accused of stealing confidential documents from the Pope's desk, Pope Benedict's blank faces up to eight years in prison.
ROCCA: Butler.
SAGAL: His butler, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After New York Times columnist Paul Krugman cast doubt on his country's economic recovery, the president of Estonia responded by blanking?
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
ROCCA: Did he punk him? No, you don't do fatwas in Estonia. What do they do in Estonia?
(LAUGHTER)
ROCCA: He stoned him.
SAGAL: No. He responded to Paul Krugman's criticism by going on a twitter rampage. Sample Presidential tweets include quote, "Chill. Just because my country's policy runs against the Received Wisdom and I object doesn't mean y'all gotta follow me," the president of Estonia. Apparently, Estonia's economy is based on the production of folksy overreactions.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: So Carl, how did Mo do on our quiz?
KASELL: Mo had seven correct answers, for fourteen more points. He now has sixteen points and Mo has taken the lead.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: How many then does Roxanne need to win?
KASELL: Six to tie, seven to win outright.
SAGAL: And how badly does Roxanne want to win?
ROXANNE ROBERTS: Oh hush.
SAGAL: All right. Here we go, Roxanne, this is for the game. Fill in the blank. According to US intelligence officials, a drone strike in Pakistan killed the number two man in blank.
ROBERTS: Al Qaeda.
SAGAL: Right
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Days after a plane crashed en route to Lagos, an airline in blank defended the safety of its planes.
ROBERTS: Nigeria.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Reports this week said that Facebook is considering allowing blanks to sign up for their own accounts.
ROBERTS: 13-year-olds.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week planetariums were filled with people who wanted to view the transit of blank across the sun.
ROBERTS: Venus.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police responding to reports of a traffic jam along a highway in rural Pennsylvania arrived on the scene to find blank.
ROBERTS: Chickens.
SAGAL: No, two cows doing it in the road.
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: Peter, you city boy. Two cows will not...
SAGAL: Technically.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Hey.
ROCCA: It depends what state you're in.
SAGAL: Exactly.
ROCCA: It depends what state you're in.
SAGAL: Everything has changed after President Obama's announcement.
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: All right, good point.
SAGAL: Days after Miss Rhode Island won the crown, Miss Pennsylvania accused the blank pageant of being fixed.
ROBERTS: Miss USA.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Dallas Cowboys fullback Lawrence Vickers was forced to leave practice this week after it was determined that he had blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
ROBERTS: That he had tickled his center.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He had to leave after it was determined that he had ants in his pants.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Isn't that almost the same thing?
SAGAL: It's almost the same. Practice was going fine for Vickers, until he had an unusual sensation and as he put it, quote "I walk off, and I'm like 'oh snap. ' And I pulled my pants down to see, and I saw ants."
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: If this is a widespread problem it explains a lot of touchdown celebrations.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, did Roxanne do well enough to win?
KASELL: She needed at least six correct answers to tie but Roxanne had five correct answers. So, with sixteen points, Mo Rocca is this week's champion.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Maryland's own, Maurice Rocca.
ROCCA: I can't believe it. It's just...
(APPLAUSE)
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.