PETER SAGAL, Host:
Now, it's time to move on to our final game, Lightning Fill in the Blank. Each of our players will now have sixty 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, Host:
Roxanne Roberts has the lead, Peter. She has four points. PJ O'Rourke has three. Charlie Pierce has two.
SAGAL: All right, so then Charlie, you're in third place. You will go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. A new poll suggests that President Obama has lost the popularity bump he gained with the death of blank.
CHARLIE PIERCE: Osama bin Laden.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged more NATO allies to participate in air strikes against blank.
PIERCE: Libya.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: This week the Senate allowed legislation that would cap bank fees on blanks.
PIERCE: Swipe cards.
SAGAL: Yeah, debit cards, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Privacy advocates complained this week at the new facial recognition software installed on the social networking site blank.
PIERCE: Facebook.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Despite its popularity with customers, health officials in Columbia, Missouri have asked an ice cream shop to stop selling blank.
PIERCE: Whiskey.
SAGAL: No, cicada ice cream. On Wednesday, Meredith Vieira ended her five year run as co-anchor of the blank show.
PIERCE: The Today Show.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Trouble, the Maltese dog who inherited 12 million dollars from hotel mogul blank died at age 12.
PIERCE: Leona Helmsley.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A California woman who locked her keys in her car is in trouble for blanking to get the help of police.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
PIERCE: Robbing a bank.
SAGAL: No, setting a brush fire.
PIERCE: Oh, well there we go.
SAGAL: It was 4 a.m., she'd locked the keys in her car on the Golden State Freeway, and the freeway callbox was disconnected. But she had a box of matches. According to the Sheriffs office, "To get attention, she decided to set the hillside on fire. And she got our attention." And was arrested for arson.
Carl, how did Charlie do on our quiz?
KASELL: Charlie had six correct answers for twelve more points. He now has fourteen points, and Charlie has the lead.
SAGAL: All right.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: PJ, you were in second place. Is that right?
PJ O: Yep. But not for long.
SAGAL: All right, PJ, you're up next. Please fill in the blank. Farmers in Europe were forced to throw away their fresh produce because the source of the blank outbreak is still unknown.
ROURKE: E.Coli.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: In the wake of the Fukushima crisis in Japan, Germany announced it would close all of its blanks by 2022.
ROURKE: Atomic power plants.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: On Tuesday, NBC outbid Fox and ESPN and secured the rights to...
ROURKE: Olympics.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: During their story about Sarah Palin last Sunday, Fox News accidentally blanked.
ROURKE: Laughed.
SAGAL: No.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Used a picture of Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ROURKE: I'm betting it wasn't an accident.
SAGAL: Scientists announced this week that they were adding two new blanks to the periodic table.
ROURKE: Elements, elements.
SAGAL: Yes, indeed.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
ROURKE: Uslicium(ph) and expensivium(ph) or something.
SAGAL: A study shows that in the days following initial reports about Anthony Weiner, there was a noticeable drop-off in Congressmen using blank.
ROURKE: Briefs rather than boxers.
SAGAL: No.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ROURKE: Twitter, of course.
SAGAL: Twitter, Twitter, Twitter.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: After his new boat sunk on its maiden voyage, a British man realized he should not have named it blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
ROURKE: Titanic.
SAGAL: Yes, Titanic 2, in fact.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Mark Wilkinson had just entered the harbor on the Titanic 2 when it sprung a leak and immediately began to sink. Wilkinson was rescued by the local harbor master, but says he's giving up boating for good.
ROURKE: An Leonardo di Caprio ran right out onto the bow.
SAGAL: Tiny little...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: He was very excited though about going for a flight in his new airship, the Hindenburg 2: Flaming Boogaloo.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PIERCE: And his wife, Andrea Doria was unavailable for comment.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, how did PJ do on our quiz?
KASELL: PJ had six correct answers, twelve more points. He now has fifteen points, and PJ has the lead.
SAGAL: Well done, PJ. All right.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
ROURKE: Not for long, not for long. Roxanne is on next and Roxanne knows everything.
SAGAL: How many...
ROXANNE ROBERTS: No, that's not true.
SAGAL: How many then does Roxanne need to win, Carl?
KASELL: Six correct answers.
SAGAL: Six correct answers. All right. Ready to do this, Roxanne?
ROBERTS: We'll try.
SAGAL: Here we go. Residents in Arizona fought against spreading blanks that have grown to the second largest in Arizona history.
ROBERTS: Wildfires.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Reports this week indicate that the president of blank was more seriously wounded last Friday than previously thought.
ROBERTS: Yemen.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Programmers warned this week that the Internet may run out of blanks as soon as 2012.
ROBERTS: Domain names.
SAGAL: No, IP addresses. Delta came under criticism after it came out that the airline had charged soldiers returning from Afghanistan an extra 2,800 dollars in blank fees.
ROBERTS: Luggage fees.
SAGAL: Yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: A misprint in an online advertisement for a beer sale at Tesco in Britain led to a blank.
ROBERTS: Riot.
SAGAL: Yeah, a stampede at the supermarket.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Because he's still recovering from a knee injury, golfer blank announced he would not compete in the US Open.
ROBERTS: Tiger Woods.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: Steve Jobs made an appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference to announce the new blank service.
ROBERTS: iCloud.
SAGAL: Right.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: The band AC/DC has been performing since the 70s and, according to reports from Australia, continues to add new fans, including blank.
(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)
ROBERTS: Koala bears.
SAGAL: Great white sharks. Cage-diving operator Matt Waller says there are two ways to attract sharks: fresh blood in the water or AC/DC.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And since Matt's business is bringing tourists closer to the sharks, he's in favor of the music. A lesson, he wished he'd learned many, many tourists ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Carl, did Roxanne do well enough to win?
KASELL: She needed six correct answers and she had six correct answers. So with sixteen points, Roxanne Roberts is this week's champion.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
SAGAL: I know how much he enjoys that. In just a minute, we're going to ask our panelists what Newt Gingrich will do to reinvigorate his troubled presidential campaign. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.