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Lightning Fill In The Blank

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now onto our final game, Lightning Filled 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, BYLINE: Amy and Roy each have three. Brian has two.

SAGAL: All right, Brian, you're in third place. You're up first. The clock...

BRIAN BABYLON: Let's do it.

SAGAL: The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to stand up against terrorism following a shooting outside the parliament building in blank.

BABYLON: Canada.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After agreeing not to defend their band, Wyoming became the 32nd state to officially legalize blank.

BABYLON: Gay marriage.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Right. A court in South Africa sentenced Paralympic track star blank to five years in prison for manslaughter.

BABYLON: Petorian.

SAGAL: Say again.

BABYLON: (Unintelligible).

SAGAL: Say again.

(LAUGHTER)

BABYLON: Petorius-us-ness.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I...

BABYLON: Blade man. Come on.

AMY DICKINSON: Give it to him.

SAGAL: Bill, what do you think? Is he close enough?

KURTIS: Yes, I do.

BABYLON: Thank you.

SAGAL: It's Pistorius.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Monday, Sweden's military began looking for a Russian blank they believe illegally crossed into Swedish waters.

BABYLON: Submarine.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Wisconsin driver who side-swiped another vehicle apologized and said he was distracted by blank.

BABYLON: A Wisconsin driver - oh, Candy Crush.

SAGAL: No, a delicious bratwurst. This week, Peyton Manning set an NFL record for career blank passes.

BABYLON: Touchdown.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A nun who won Italy's version of the voice...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Shocked some when she announced her first single would be a cover of blank.

BABYLON: "Do Me Baby," by Prince.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Actually, that would be funny. But it was in fact a cover of Madonna's "Like A Virgin."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Depending on who you ask, Madonna's like a virgin is either a song about having sex or a song about having a lot of sex so it's a bold choice for Sister Christina Scuccia's debut single. The sister claims that her version is about through transformative power of God's love, which when you think about it just makes things even weirder.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: The sister says that her follow-up single won't nearly be as controversial. It's an original song called I'm not so much like a virgin as I am literally a virgin.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Brian do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Brian got five right for 10 more points, total of 12 and the lead.

SAGAL: All right.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: We flipped a coin. Roy has elected to go next. So, Roy, fill in the blank. The World Health Organization has announced that trials for a blank vaccine could start as early as January.

ROY BLOUNT JR.: Ebola.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Officials are claiming that autopsy evidence supports Darren Wilson's version of the shooting of blank.

BLOUNT: Brown.

SAGAL: Yeah, Michael Brown.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A new report has accused Ukraine of using banned cluster bombs against the separatists supported by blank.

BLOUNT: Russia.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Earnings reports show that online retailer blank lost over $473 million this quarter.

BLOUNT: Amazon.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Florida man charged with exposing himself at a shopping mall said he wasn't doing anything inappropriate, he was just blanking.

BLOUNT: He was just reaching into his pocket for his car keys.

SAGAL: No, he said he was, quote, "extreme shopping." Scientists say that the DNA extracted from a 45,000-year-old bone may help pinpoint when Neanderthals first mated with blank.

BLOUNT: With us.

SAGAL: Yeah, humans - Homosapiens.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: In order to avoid period in court for...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Swiddling $73,000 from a neighbor, a British man blanked for two years.

BLOUNT: Pretended to be a coma.

SAGAL: That's what he did, Roy.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

BLOUNT: Yay.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: Two years ago, Alan Knight was caught swindling his neighbors, but just before he could be prosecuted, his wife claimed that an accident had left him comatose. However, staff at the hospital attending to Knight started suspecting something was up when they saw him eating, talking and reading a book called "A Con Man's Guide To Faking A Coma."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Bill, how did Roy do on our quiz?

KURTIS: He did very well. He got six right for 12 more points for a total of 15 and the lead.

SAGAL: All right.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: So how many then does Amy need to win and bring this thing to a close?

KURTIS: Six to tie, seven to win.

SAGAL: All right. Amy, this is for the game. Fill in the blank. The terrorist group Boko Haram has been blamed for a new round of kidnappings in blank.

DICKINSON: Nigeria.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, the department of labor reported that blank claims remained at a 14-year low.

DICKINSON: Unemployment.

SAGAL: Yeah, joblessness.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, four members of the security firm Blackwater were convicted for a 2007 shooting in blank.

DICKINSON: Iraq.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A Minnesota man was arrested for public intoxication and assaulting a police officer after he blanked.

DICKINSON: Minnesota - it involves - it must involve sausage.

SAGAL: It does not involve sausage. I will tell you he snuck up behind the police officer and gave him a Wet Willy.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: This week, the fashion world gathered to mourn the loss of designer blank, who passed away at the age of 82.

DICKINSON: Oscar de la Renta.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: An Italian couple having an intimate...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Encounter in the ocean were forced to visit the hospital when they blanked.

DICKINSON: Does it involve sharks?

SAGAL: No.

DICKINSON: When they - it was in the ocean and it - it's sandy so that can be a problem.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: What happened to the people is they got stuck together. The couple, who were hoping to remain anonymous for the rest of their natural lives, were coupling beneath the waves when they found themselves unable to uncouple. Fate could never pull these two apart. Nope, that took a team of doctors in a nearby hospital. When asked if it was chemistry that kept them so close, they responded, no, as it happened, it was more like physics.

SAGAL: Bill, how did Amy do on our quiz?

KURTIS: Amy got four right for eight more more points and a total of 11. So Roy - believe it or not - is the winner with 15.

SAGAL: Well done.

(APPLAUSE)

BLOUNT: Oh, man. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.