PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Now onto 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.
Bill, can you give us the scores?
BILL KURTIS: Tom and Peter each have three. Roxanne has two.
SAGAL: All right, Rox, you are in third place. You're up first, fill in the blank. On Wednesday, Theresa May once again requested an extension for the blank deal.
ROXANNE ROBERTS: Brexit.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, the State Department announced plans to cut aid to three countries in blank.
ROBERTS: In Central America.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a parent in California became the first person to plead guilty in the blank admissions scandal.
ROBERTS: In the college bribery scandal.
PETER GROSZ: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In an overwhelming victory, Lori Lightfoot was elected Blank's first black female mayor.
ROBERTS: Mayoral race in Chicago.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Indonesia announced it was banning tourists from visiting Komodo Island because people keep blanking the Komodo dragons.
ROBERTS: They keep stealing them.
SAGAL: That's right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, UConn advanced to their 12th straight Final Four appearance in the women's blank tournament.
ROBERTS: NCAA.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, electric car company blank reported record low sales and a 10-percent dip in stock value.
ROBERTS: Tesla.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: An Arkansas man told police he was shot...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...While protecting an asset during a secret mission was actually blank.
ROBERTS: He and his buddy were shooting each other to try out their bullet proof vests.
SAGAL: That's exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
KURTIS: It's what we do.
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: The man who was shot five times in the back took himself to the ER. And when the police got there, he told them a mysterious assailant attacked him while he was protecting an asset. The man's wife was not amused by this nonsense and blew his cover. The man insists he will be exonerated once the full Mueller report is released.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, I think Roxanne did spectacularly well, am I right?
KURTIS: Well, a rare moment here - eight right. She leads with a total of 18.
SAGAL: All right, we have flipped a coin. Peter has elected to go next. So, Peter, fill in the blank. On Sunday, a whistleblower revealed that 25 people in the White House were granted blank despite significant red flags.
GROSZ: Security clearances.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Thursday, President Trump walked back his threat to close the blank.
GROSZ: The border in Mexico.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, Mitch McConnell used the so-called blank option to advance a handful of President Trump's judicial nominees.
GROSZ: Nuclear option.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, the CEO of blank said the company took full responsibility for faulty 737 MAX planes.
GROSZ: Boeing.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Saying he wanted to celebrate his team's big win with his granddad, a soccer fan in Argentina blanked.
GROSZ: Flew his grandfather to Argentina.
SAGAL: No, he rushed to the graveyard to dig up his grandpa's skull.
(GASPING)
SAGAL: According to a new study, a bad diet put you at a higher risk for death than blanking.
GROSZ: Than lack of exercise.
SAGAL: Than smoking. On Tuesday, pharma-bro blank was put in solitary after it was revealed he was running his business from prison.
GROSZ: Shkreli.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In what experts are calling the most Swedish arrest ever, an officer...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...In Stockholm apprehended a man while they were both blanking.
GROSZ: Making meatballs, wearing bikinis and acting as a muppet chef.
(LAUGHTER)
TOM BODETT: That was a great guess.
GROSZ: That's pretty Swedish.
SAGAL: They're all very Swedish.
SAGAL: No, in this case, they were both sitting in a sauna.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSZ: Put your hands up. No, God, don't. Please put the back down.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSZ: Bill, how did Peter do on our quiz?
KURTIS: He got five right, 10 more points, total of 13, which means Roxanne is still in the lead.
SAGAL: All right, so I'm guessing then...
(APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: ...That in order to win Tom has to be perfect, right?
KURTIS: He has to get the full boat.
SAGAL: Here we go, Tom. This is for the game. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the White House began their ninth round of trade talks with blank.
BODETT: China.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Sunday, a woman carrying a USB drive full of malware was arrested by the Secret Service at blank.
BODETT: Mar-a-Lago.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, the House Ways and Means Committee asked the IRS for six years of blank's tax returns.
BODETT: President Trump.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, the Republican Party Chair for the state of blank was indicted on bribery charges.
BODETT: Oh, is that North Carolina?
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week, a Maryland man was extradited to Florida on charges that he had a blanked while on vacation there.
BODETT: Oh, God. He dressed as a Chinese woman and snuck a malware USB into Mar-a-Lago.
SAGAL: No, he was arrested because in vacation in Florida he had tackled a pelican. On Thursday...
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: I think. The pelican. It was the the pelican undid me.
SAGAL: I know. On Thursday, Target announced that it was raising its blank to $13 an hour.
BODETT: It's beginning wage, minimum wage.
SAGAL: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: According to a new study, cats are able to recognize their own blanks.
BODETT: Oh, like this is, like, news. It's their name. They can...
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
BODETT: But according to the same study, they just don't care saying it's come up...
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: ...Saying it's come up with a foolproof way to wake up over sleepers...
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
SAGAL: ...A company created the new alarm clock that uses the soothing sound of blank.
BODETT: Oh, I know this. It's a cat coughing up a hairball.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: You know, I'm going to give it to you.
BODETT: Seriously.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: It's - the answer we have was a puking dog, which I know is not to same.
BODETT: It will - it wakes you up. If you've got pets...
SAGAL: Yeah.
BODETT: ...You hear that, it's like go, go.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: An Odd Alarm is an app with a variety of traumatizing sounds ranging from smoke alarm to dog barfing in your bed. I'm sure they have cat coughing up hairballs in there.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The distressing alarms mean you're less likely to snooze through them. But if that doesn't work, there's always the premium membership, which is a real dog, and that guarantees you'll never sleep passed 6:30 every again.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Bill, did Tom do well enough to win? I don't think so.
KURTIS: So close. He got seven right, 14 more points, total of 17, but lost to Roxanne of 18.
BODETT: Of course, that was hardcore.
(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.