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Lightning Fill In The Blank

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Now it's 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 he or she can. Each correct answer now worth two points. Bill, can you give us the scores?

BILL KURTIS: Mo has four, Alonzo has three, and Helen has one.

HELEN HONG: (Groaning).

SAGAL: OK. Well, Helen, that means you're in third place, so you're up first. Fill in the blank. This week, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that blank is still trying to interfere with U.S. elections.

HONG: Russia.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Sunday, the White House instructed its diplomats in Afghanistan to enter into direct talks with the blank.

HONG: Taliban.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, a judge denied former Trump campaign chairman blank's request to move his trial.

HONG: Manafort.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Wednesday, a proposal to split blank into three separate states was removed from the ballot.

HONG: California.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After being pulled over for going 97 in a 55-mile-an-hour zone, a congressman in Arizona told police officers blank.

HONG: His odometer was broken.

SAGAL: No. He bragged about it. He said, that 97 was nothing. Sometimes, I can get this car up to 120.

HONG: Wow.

SAGAL: He's immune from traffic tickets in Arizona.

Tesla's stock dropped sharply this week following Twitter attacks launched by founder blank.

HONG: Elon Musk.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: According to a new study, there's a strong link between teen smartphone use and blank.

HONG: Dumbassery (ph).

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ADHD.

After suspecting that a squirrel...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...Was stealing their tomatoes from their garden, a family in Canada was surprised when home security footage revealed blank.

HONG: Their neighbor.

SAGAL: So close. It was their mailman.

HONG: What?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: The family set up a security camera after they noticed the produce in their garden going missing. They assumed the culprit was a squirrel. But after reviewing the video, they saw their local mailman helping himself to almost all their tomatoes and strawberries. The family says they were hoping to confront him, but when they approached, he skittered up a tree and hasn't come down since.

(LAUGHTER)

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

KURTIS: She got five right, 10 more points and pulled up to the lead with 11.

SAGAL: That's very good.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: All right. Alonzo, you're up next. Fill in the blank. This week, China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Trump's blanks.

ALONZO BODDEN: Tariffs.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Wednesday, the EU hit search giant blank with a record $5 billion antitrust fine.

BODDEN: Google.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, President Trump said his dream competition in 2020 would be blank.

BODDEN: Joe Biden.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Monday, blank was met with large crowds when he visited Kenya for the launch of a vocational center.

BODDEN: Barack Obama.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A church undergoing renovation in Switzerland has upset some locals by replacing its bell chimes with blank.

BODDEN: Electronic chimes.

SAGAL: So I'm going to give it to you. Cellphone ringtones.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Mark Zuckerberg said he wouldn't ban Holocaust deniers from spreading their message on blank.

BODDEN: Facebook.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: With 53 points, Dallas Wings player Liz Cambage set a single-game scoring record for the blank.

BODDEN: WNBA.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: A German town has had to bring in professional help...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...After a catfish in a local pond started blanking.

BODDEN: I so want to say catfishing.

SAGAL: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

BODDEN: I - catfishing.

SAGAL: No. After it started eating every other living thing in the pond. Officials in Offenbach, Germany, were rattled this week when they discovered this catfish was eating everything else that lived in the pond. It started with the other fish, moved on to ducks and other birds. Concerned city council members hired a professional fisherman to help catch the catfish, which means that the fish will soon have the taste for human flesh.

(LAUGHTER)

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

KURTIS: Alonzo got seven right, 14 more points, a total of 17.

SAGAL: Oh, my gosh.

HONG: Wow.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: All right, then. Well, how many does Mo need to win?

KURTIS: Seven to win.

SAGAL: All right, Mo. This is for the game. Here we go. Fill in the blank. On Wednesday, the soccer team that was stuck in a cave in blank were released from the hospital.

MO ROCCA: Thailand.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, President Trump criticized the Federal Reserve for raising blank.

ROCCA: Interest rates.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the denuclearization of blank may take some time.

ROCCA: North Korea.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Sunday, France beat Croatia 4-2 to claim their second ever blank.

ROCCA: World Cup.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, Comcast dropped out of a bidding war with blank to acquire 21st Century Fox's media assets.

ROCCA: Disney.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, the MLB's blank game set a new record with 10 home runs.

ROCCA: All-Star.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: In what may be the worst first date ever...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...A man in Tennessee blanked.

ROCCA: Died.

SAGAL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Stole his date's car and then used it to go on another date.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Don't hate the playa (ph), hate the game.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Faith Pugh says her date suggested they drive her car to go get dinner, but he asked to stop at a gas station first. Then he asked her to go in and get him a cigar. And when she returned, he had gone in the car. If that weren't bad enough, she then, later that evening, received a text from her very good friend saying the same man had shown up to take her out on a date in Pugh's car.

HONG: Wow.

SAGAL: Bill, did Mo do well enough to win?

KURTIS: So close, but he's off by one point, which means that Alonzo is our winner.

SAGAL: Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

BODDEN: That is a rare occurrence.

SAGAL: Yes.

BODDEN: I like that. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.