PETER SAGAL, HOST:
It is now time to play our final game, Lighting Fill In The Blank. Each of our players has 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. Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: Roy and Greg each have three. Amy has two.
SAGAL: Amy, you're in third. You'll go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank.
This week, TransCanada announced plans to sue the Obama administration for $8 billion over their rejection of the blank.
AMY DICKINSON: Of the pipeline.
SAGAL: Yes, the Keystone XL.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced that it was cutting off air travel and trade ties with blank.
DICKINSON: Iran.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, a federal grand jury subpoenaed a blank over a norovirus outbreak linked to their restaurants.
DICKINSON: Oh, Chipotle.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Wednesday, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza were elected to the blank.
DICKINSON: Not the Hall of Fame.
SAGAL: Yes, the Hall of Fame.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
DICKINSON: On Wednesday?
SAGAL: Yes, on Wednesday.
(LAUGHTER)
DICKINSON: That's crazy.
SAGAL: This week the seventh movie in the blank series became the highest grossing film in North American history.
DICKINSON: The seventh in the "Star Wars."
SAGAL: Yes, yes, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A DUI charge was dropped against a women in Buffalo, N.Y. because the court determined blank.
DICKINSON: It was dropped because they determined that she wasn't driving.
SAGAL: No. It was dropped...
DICKINSON: It was hands-free.
SAGAL: It was dropped because they determined that she hadn't been drinking. It's just that her body is a brewery. Allow me to explain. The woman has a rare condition - or fantastic gift, depending on the point of view...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: It's called Gut Fermentation Syndrome in which yeast in her intestines ferments the carbs that she digests into alcohol. The woman whose name has not been released is described as a five-foot, six-inch female with brown hair, toffee, barley and wooden oats in the nose.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, how did Amy do on our quiz?
KURTIS: Six right. Twelve more points. Total of 14. She has the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Well, we flipped a coin, and Greg was elected to go next. So here we go, Greg, fill in the blank. This week, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court ordered judges to enforce that state's blank ban.
GREG PROOPS: Same-sex marriage.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday and Thursday, plunging stocks forced the national stock market of blank to close trading early.
PROOPS: China.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, both California and Massachusetts implemented plans to increase their blank to $10 an hour.
PROOPS: Minimum wage.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: That last week over 100,000 people on Facebook shared a photo of a heroic dog that was badly burned saving his family from a fire. This week it was revealed the picture was actually of blank.
PROOPS: A cat.
SAGAL: No, a dog with a slice of ham on his face.
(LAUGHTER)
PROOPS: Oh, god.
SAGAL: This week, author George R. R. Martin announced he was still months away from finishing the sixth book in the blank series.
PROOPS: "Game of Thrones."
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: We know it's "A Song of Ice and Fire" nerds. On Thursday, the jackpot for the blank shot up to a record-breaking $700 million.
PROOPS: Powerball.
SAGAL: Powerball, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A police department in Britain put out a plea this week asking for any witnesses who may know the whereabouts of a missing and much-loved blank.
PROOPS: Oh, kittens.
SAGAL: Is that your answer - kittens?
PROOPS: No. That was an exclamation to keep me from swearing.
(LAUGHTER)
PROOPS: A much-loved and missing hedgehog?
SAGAL: No it was a beloved and missing beach towel.
PROOPS: What?
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The Northumbria Police Department in Britain has over 4,000 members, and they take every crime seriously, and that includes towel theft. When search-and-rescue efforts came up empty, they turned to social media asking potential witnesses to come forward. This was of course mocked mercilessly. So social media did what it was designed to do. Bill, how did...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Yes, the enjoyment of that one was quite subtle.
(LAUGHTER)
PROOPS: You know, they honored it with a moment of silence.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: They did.
PROOPS: Very respectful crowd.
SAGAL: Bill, how did Greg Proops do on our show?
KURTIS: Well, Greg got five right. Ten more points. Total of 13. But Amy still has the lead by one.
SAGAL: All right. So it's your first math question of the new year, Bill. How many does Roy need to win?
KURTIS: He needs six to win. So let's count them down.
SAGAL: Here we go, Roy. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, GOP front-runner blank released his campaign's first-ever televised ad.
ROY BLOUNT, JR.: Trump.
SAGAL: Trump, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Monday, the Justice Department filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against blank over their emission scandal.
BLOUNT, JR.: Volkswagen.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, California saw record-breaking rainstorms thanks to blank.
BLOUNT, JR.: El Nino.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Firefighters in Indiana responding to reports of a blaze in a grain elevator instead found blank.
BLOUNT, JR.: That woman who was...
(LAUGHTER)
BLOUNT, JR.: She was standing there and the grain was turning to beer.
SAGAL: No.
BLOUNT, JR.: No.
SAGAL: There was a guy standing there juggling a flaming batons. According to new data from the NOAA, 2015 was the second-blankest year on record.
BLOUNT, JR.: Hottest.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Best-known for the hits "Unforgettable" and "This Will Be" singer blank passed away at the age of 65.
BLOUNT, JR.: (Singing) Unforgettable. I can't remember who that was.
DICKINSON: (Singing) It's forgettable.
(LAUGHTER)
BLOUNT, JR.: I want to say it was Nat King Cole, but...
KURTIS: It was.
BLOUNT, JR.: Oh, it was. OK, Nat King Cole.
SAGAL: No, it wasn't.
DICKINSON: No, not quite.
SAGAL: It was his daughter, Natalie.
BLOUNT, JR.: Oh, Natalie. Oh, of course. Well, he did it first.
DICKINSON: Died?
BLOUNT, JR.: He died first, too, yeah.
SAGAL: That's true. An armed robber in northern California was arrested last week after he blanked before he fled the scene.
BLOUNT, JR.: An armed robber. He looked at the gun in his hand and said (unintelligible).
SAGAL: No he was arrested because before he fled the scene of the robbery, he took a selfie and then exchanged Snapchat information with one of his victims.
BLOUNT, JR.: Oh, yeah.
DICKINSON: What?
SAGAL: This is what he did - he stopped mid-robbery. He took a selfie with her, me and you, and then he friended her on Snapchat. It's one of those perfect meet cute stories, the kind that years from now you'll want to tell your grandkids during visiting hour.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Roy do well enough to win?
DICKINSON: Oh my gosh.
KURTIS: He got four right. Eight more points. But his 11 could not catch Amy.
SAGAL: Amy came from behind.
KURTIS: This week's champ.
DICKINSON: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: Congratulations. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.