PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Time for 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 now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: I sure can. Peter has two. Roxanne and Roy each have three.
SAGAL: All right.
SAGAL: So that means Peter is in third place. And you're up first.
PETER GROSZ: Great.
SAGAL: The clock will start when I begin your first question, Peter. Fill in the blank. After assurances that the cease-fire in Syria was permanent, the White House announced it was lifting sanctions on blank.
GROSZ: Turkey.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister blank said that he had failed to form a new coalition government.
GROSZ: Netanyahu.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, lawmakers in Hong Kong officially scrapped a blank bill that has prompted pro-democracy protests.
GROSZ: Extradition.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Last weekend, President Trump reversed his plans to host the blank at his luxury golf club near Miami.
GROSZ: Ha-ha. G7.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In order to redirect around a 65-foot-long road closure, officials in Britain blanked.
GROSZ: Gave up.
SAGAL: No. They created a 41-mile-long detour.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: On Sunday, Francis Ford Coppola joined Martin Scorsese in criticizing the blank movie franchise.
GROSZ: Marvel.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, former President blank was hospitalized with a fracture after falling in his home.
GROSZ: Jimmy Carter.
SAGAL: Right. He was...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: ...Released on Thursday.
GROSZ: Yes.
SAGAL: A man in Illinois trying to avoid arrest gave...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Police a false name but was caught when officers noticed blank.
GROSZ: The name he gave was his name.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He was caught when they saw that he had his real name tattooed on his neck.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Matthew Bushman was wanted for forgery. And when police attempted to arrest him, he gave the cops a fake name. That probably would have worked if Bushman did not have his full name tattooed in giant letters on his neck. It also didn't help that he was also wearing a nametag from a recent forgers convention...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...That said, hello, my name is guilty.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Peter do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Real good - six right, 12 more points, total of 14. He is in the lead.
SAGAL: Very well done, Peter. Now...
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: ...We flipped a coin. And Roy has elected to go next. Roy, fill in the blank. On Tuesday, Britain's Parliament rejected a request to fast track a deal on blank.
ROY BLOUNT JR: Brexit.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, Democrats blocked a GOP effort to censure House Intelligence Chair blank.
BLOUNT JR: Schiff.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: For the second week, PG&E cut power to customers in California to reduce risk of blank.
BLOUNT JR: Risk of fires.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A university student in Bangladesh was busted this week when she hired blank to take her exams.
BLOUNT JR: Hunter Biden.
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: She hired eight look-alikes to take her exams. On Monday, the last trailer for the ninth and final movie in the blank series was released.
BLOUNT JR: "Superman."
SAGAL: No. The "Star Wars" series...
BLOUNT JR: Oh.
SAGAL: ...At least the Skywalker saga to be specific. In order to keep them from cheating, a college in India...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...Had students blank during tests.
BLOUNT JR: They had hung a scimitar. One of those...
SAGAL: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: They had students - during this test to keep them from cheating, they had students wear cardboard boxes on their heads. A recent picture showed university students taking an exam while wearing these cardboard boxes with small cut out eye holes presumably to keep students from looking to their left or right and cheating off the person next to them. Or maybe just every student had ended up with a bad Halloween costume. The school has since apologized for doing this to their students. They say that when it comes to future ideas for preventing cheating, they'll try and think outside the box.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Roy do on our quiz?
KURTIS: He got three right, six more points, total of nine. But he trails Peter.
SAGAL: So how many is Roxanne going to get right and thus win?
(LAUGHTER)
KURTIS: Six.
SAGAL: Six. OK, Roxanne. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Monday, Justin Trudeau won a second term as prime minister of blank.
ROXANNE ROBERTS: Canada.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After charges she was being evasive, presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren said she would soon release her detailed plan for blank.
ROBERTS: "Medicare for All."
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a judge said the State Department must give a watchdog group documents relating to the president's dealings with blank.
ROBERTS: Ukraine.
SAGAL: Exactly right.
ROBERTS: OK.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to a new report, health insurance premiums covered by the blank will drop by 4% next year.
ROBERTS: Obamacare.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a security guard at a Bath and Body Works in Wisconsin had to call police for help after he blanked.
ROBERTS: Didn't he accidentally spray himself with something?
SAGAL: No. He got bored and handcuffed himself to the counter.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: In a deal reached on Monday, four drug companies will pay $260 million for their role in Ohio's blank epidemic.
ROBERTS: The opioid crisis.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, shares in electric car company blank jumped 21%.
ROBERTS: Tesla.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Thanks to a newly passed law, it will soon be legal to eat blank in California.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
ROBERTS: It'll be legal to eat really fatty cheeseburgers with bacon on top.
SAGAL: No. It will be legal to eat roadkill in California.
ROBERTS: I didn't know that.
SAGAL: Well...
ROBERTS: OK.
SAGAL: Now you know.
ROBERTS: OK.
SAGAL: The Wildlife Salvage bill, which goes into effect next year...
GROSZ: Wildlife salvage.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Yes - allows drivers who fatally strike animals with their cars, I presume, possibly with their fists - I don't know - to take the animals home and cook them. Not all Californians are pleased with the bill. Especially California's many vegetarians were finding it difficult to run over an acai bowl.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Roxanne do well enough to win?
KURTIS: She needed six. She got six. So she wins.
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
KURTIS: Twelve more points, 15, and the winner. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.