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 he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Carl, can you give us the scores?
CARL KASELL: Amy Dickinson has four points, Peter; she has the lead. Paula Poundstone and Maz Jobrani, they both have two points and they're in second place.
SAGAL: All right. We've flipped a coin and Paula has elected to go second, so Maz, you are up first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Ben Bernanke said that the country is facing a fiscal cliff, and without congressional action, the average person's blanks could go up by $3,500.
MAZ JOBRANI: Taxes.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After a bitter dispute with Rahm Emanuel that led to a seven-day strike, the teachers union in blank ratified a new three-year contract.
JOBRANI: Chicago.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Police arrested seven crew members from two boats after a deadly ferry accident in blank this week.
JOBRANI: Hong Kong.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Rescue workers in Scotland were forced to rescue a pedestrian who blanked last weekend.
JOBRANI: Flew.
SAGAL: Got his head stuck in a public trashcan.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: "Family Guy" creator Seth Mcfarlane was named on Monday as the host of the 2013 blank ceremony.
JOBRANI: Oscars.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The Weather Channel announced this week that they're planning to start blanking winter storms.
JOBRANI: Predicting.
SAGAL: No, naming them, just like hurricanes.
(LAUGHTER)
JOBRANI: That would be cool.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: That would be cool.
A rapper hired to play a promotional event at an Atlanta Microsoft store upset officials when he blanked.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
JOBRANI: Rapped.
SAGAL: No, when he shouted F these computers and then destroyed a bunch of them.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The rapper said what any of us who've used a Microsoft computer have said, then jumped on a display table and did what any of us who have used a Microsoft computer have wanted to do.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Maz do on our quiz?
KASELL: Maz had four correct answers, for eight more points. He now has ten points and Maz has taken the lead.
SAGAL: All righty then, well done, Maz.
(APPLAUSE)
JOBRANI: Thanks.
SAGAL: Next up is Paula. Here we go, Paula, fill in the blank. A judge in Pennsylvania issued an injunction to prevent the new blank law from being enforced during November's election.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Voter ID.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, Turkey's parliament authorized military actions against blank.
POUNDSTONE: Syria.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, is taking one or two weeks of leave after blanking on Monday.
POUNDSTONE: Having a baby.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The Australian Health Department is recalling its new anatomy posters because they accidentally blank.
POUNDSTONE: Showed private parts.
SAGAL: No, they mixed up the lungs and the stomach and they mislabeled the ovaries as kidneys.
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: That was my second guess.
SAGAL: Public Enemy, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and the Misrelates are among the musicians nominated for induction into the blank this week.
POUNDSTONE: I don't know. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
SAGAL: Yes, indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: During a show last weekend in Arizona, pop star Justin Bieber blanked while on stage.
POUNDSTONE: I believe he threw up.
SAGAL: He did.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A British supermarket reported this week that their blank has been stolen.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
POUNDSTONE: British supermarket, what was stolen there? Their English muffins.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: A theft deterrent cardboard cutout of a policeman.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The six-foot tall cardboard cutout was put in the local Sainsbury's to deter shoplifters from stealing merchandise.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Unfortunately, he didn't deter shoplifters from stealing him. No ransom demand has been made but police say to get their fake policeman back they're willing to pay any amount of fake money.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did Paula do on our quiz?
KASELL: Paula had five correct answers for ten more points. She now has 12 points and Paula has taken the lead.
SAGAL: Very well done.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: So how many does Amy need to win?
KASELL: Four to tie, five to win outright.
SAGAL: All right, Amy, this is for the game. Here we go. Three weeks after the attack, FBI investigators examined the destroyed consulate in blank.
AMY DICKINSON: Libya.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill this week protecting minors who are blank from conversion therapy.
DICKINSON: Oh, gay.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Because of the weak economy, former third party presidential candidate and billionaire blank warned this week that the U.S. could be taken over.
DICKINSON: Ross Perot.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social networking site blank has more than 1 billion active users each month.
DICKINSON: Facebook.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Health inspectors shut down a restaurant in Kentucky after witnesses noticed employees blanking.
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: Does it involve the Fryolater?
SAGAL: No, it involved the employees wheeling road kill back to the kitchen.
DICKINSON: Oh.
POUNDSTONE: Oh.
SAGAL: In an auction last weekend, two guns belonging to depression era outlaw couple blank went for over $500,000.
DICKINSON: Bonnie and Clyde.
SAGAL: Yes, indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: NASA scientists announced Thursday that the Curiosity Rover will scoop up the first samples of soil from blank this weekend.
DICKINSON: Mars.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A Pennsylvania driver blew his chance to get out of his seventh DUI when he told police he had only swerved to blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
DICKINSON: He had only swerved to avoid hitting the six-pack in the road.
SAGAL: No, he had only swerved to avoid hitting the pink elephant in the road.
DICKINSON: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Samuel Phipps told police he swerved to avoid a pink elephant looming right there. Considerate as that was, Phipps was arrested and charged with Driving While A Cliché.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, did Amy do well enough to win?
KASELL: She needed five correct answers to win. She had six correct answers.
(APPLAUSE)
KASELL: Amy Dickinson is this week's champion.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.