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Lightning Fill In The Blank

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: Adam and Brian each have two, Amy has three.

SAGAL: We have flipped a coin. Brian has elected to go first. The clock will start when I begin your first question. Fill in the blank. On Tuesday, ISIS claimed it inspired the truck attack on a Christmas market in blank.

BRIAN BABYLON: Berlin.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Donald Trump's former campaign manager blank was named counselor to the president.

BABYLON: That lady?

(LAUGHTER)

BABYLON: Christine?

SAGAL: No, her name is Kellyanne Conway.

BABYLON: Yeah.

SAGAL: On Wednesday, the CEO of Boeing vowed to cut the production cost of blank to less than $4 billion.

BABYLON: Air Force One.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After 70 people became ill, the New Mexico Department of Health is investigating a holiday luncheon held by blank.

BABYLON: Donald Trump.

SAGAL: No, by the New Mexico Department of Health.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: In its opening weekend, the newest movie in the blank franchise broke box office records.

BABYLON: "Star Wars."

SAGAL: No doubt it's because of the score.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, Pearl Jam, Tupac and Journey were all inducted into the blank.

BABYLON: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

SAGAL: Yes, indeed.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: In Wisconsin, police officer who stopped a student for speeding...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...On the way to a presentation, then blanked.

BABYLON: He fell asleep.

SAGAL: No, he helped the student tie his neck tie because he had no idea how to do it.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Wasn't it sweet? The student said he was speeding 'cause he needed to get to a place early 'cause he needed to have someone tie his tie before the presentation and he didn't know how. The officer gave him a warning, tied his tie, told him if he ever caught him speeding again, he'd press his shirt, pleat his pants and...

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: ...Bring all of his laundry to the dry cleaners. Bill, how did Brian do in our quiz?

KURTIS: Pretty good - four right, eight more points, total to 10. He's leading right now.

SAGAL: There you go.

ADAM FELBER: For now.

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: All right, Adam, you are up next. Fill in the blank. On Monday, a gunman fatally shot the Russian ambassador to blank.

FELBER: Turkey.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Wednesday, North Carolina senators failed to repeal the state's controversial blank law.

FELBER: Anti-LGBT thing...

SAGAL: Yeah, they call it the bathroom law. Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Tuesday, China returned a U.S. naval blank it seized from the South China Sea.

FELBER: Drone.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: This week, the prime minister of Lebanon announced that his pick for the country's first ever minister for women's affairs was blank.

FELBER: Angelina Jolie.

SAGAL: Was a man. According to reports, Andrea Bocelli, Elton John and Garth Brooks were among the many artists who have declined to perform at blank.

FELBER: The inauguration.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After a regulatory defeat in California, ride share service blank announced it was moving its self-driving car program to Arizona.

FELBER: Uber.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: The New York Times was forced to publish a correction to their obituary of aviator Bob Hoover after it was revealed that they got blank wrong.

FELBER: His name.

SAGAL: No, pretty much everything, including the name of the reporter.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: They didn't get his name wrong. That's the one thing they got right. This was in the Poynter Institute's corrections of the year. Here we go.

Quote, "correction, an obituary on Wednesday about the pilot Bob Hoover referred incorrectly to his escape from a prisoner of war camp in the final days of World War II. The obituary also misstated the name of the Ohio airfield where Mr. Hoover was based after the war. In addition, the obituary misidentified the Bell Aircraft X-1, which Mr. Hoover trained to fly. The obituary also misidentified the company with which North American Aviation merged. And the obituary referred incorrectly to the P-51 fighter. And Mr. Hoover did not test it at Wright Field. In addition, a picture caption with the obituary misidentified the plane shown with Mr. Hoover. And because of an editing error, the byline for the obituary misstated the surname of the reporter in some copies. He is Craig H. Mellow, not Bellow," unquote.

(APPLAUSE)

AMY DICKINSON: Not that he wants to take credit but...

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

KURTIS: Five right, 10 more points. He squeaked into the lead with 12.

DICKINSON: Oh, uh-oh.

(APPLAUSE)

FELBER: Hold your applause, people.

SAGAL: So how many, then, does Amy need to win?

KURTIS: She needs five to win.

(APPLAUSE)

FELBER: OK.

SAGAL: All right, Amy, this is for the game. This week, the final round of evacuations got underway in the Syrian city of blank.

DICKINSON: Aleppo.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, officials revealed that this year's blank enrollments reached a record high.

DICKINSON: Obamacare.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: On Thursday, the CDC announced it was supplying nearly $200 million in funding to combat blank.

DICKINSON: Zika.

SAGAL: Right.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: After getting in a crash, a Florida teenager texted his mom from the back of an ambulance to let her know blank.

DICKINSON: That he wasn't texting while he was driving?

SAGAL: That he needed her to get all the weed out of his car.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: This week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the number of Americans blanking with their parents had risen to a 75-year high.

DICKINSON: Living.

SAGAL: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: In order to save an elderly woman from freezing in a locked car...

(SOUNDBITE OF GONG)

SAGAL: ...A police officer in New York broke the window and discovered blank.

DICKINSON: And discovered that it wasn't an elderly woman. It was a blow-up doll dressed up as an old woman for a Christmas party. What?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: I'm going to give it to you. It was a CPR dummy.

DICKINSON: Oh, wow.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Hudson police responded immediately after receiving a call from a concerned citizen claiming that an older woman was sitting alone in a locked car not moving. When they arrived at the scene, they too found the woman completely unresponsive and smashed the windows in order to save her.

(LAUGHTER)

DICKINSON: But wait, CPR dummies don't usually have legs. They're just torsos.

SAGAL: I know, but apparently...

BABYLON: Well, she's in a car.

SAGAL: ...They couldn't see it...

DICKINSON: Oh.

SAGAL: ...Because it was sitting in a car.

BABYLON: Dark car.

SAGAL: Yeah, and then, of course, they're giving the CPR dummy CPR and the dummy says, this again?

(LAUGHTER)

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

KURTIS: She got five right, 10 more points, total of 13

KURTIS: and the winner.

(APPLAUSE)

FELBER: Well earned. Well earned. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.