Author: Thomas Mack
The images have been given grouped by length and then alphabetized. In order:
| 3 letters | 5 letters | 7 letters |
| eve | bacon | chicken |
| ham | blues | dollars |
| ink | buggy | madness |
| law | cents | needles |
| oil | chips | quarter |
| one | clean | thunder |
| pen | click | |
| run | death | 8 letters |
| ups | dirty | monsters |
| downs | potatoes | |
| 4 letters | error | |
| adam | hardy | 9 letters |
| dime | honey | brimstone |
| draw | horse | cranberry |
| eggs | mazes | |
| eggs | order | 11 letters |
| fire | point | rosencrantz |
| fish | quick | |
| give | sound | 12 letters |
| hide | speak | civilization |
| jerk | spell | guildenstern |
| kiss | sweet | |
| life | tongs | |
| meat | tooth | |
| milk | trial | |
| nail | vodka | |
| null | watch | |
| ones | water | |
| only | write | |
| pins | ||
| read | 6 letters | |
| rice | blazes | |
| safe | bricks | |
| show | hammer | |
| sour | laurel | |
| surf | mortar | |
| take | nickel | |
| tell | rhythm | |
| tell | zeroes | |
| turf | ||
| void | ||
| wait |
Combining them into phrases of the form X & Y, then alphabetizing those phrases fills in the grid as follows (with spaces inserted for legibility):
| ADAM & EVE |
| BACON & EGGS |
| BRICKS & MORTAR |
| CHICKEN & RICE |
| CLEAN & JERK |
| DOLLARS & CENTS |
| DRAW & QUARTER |
| FIRE & BRIMSTONE |
| FISH & CHIPS |
| GIVE & TAKE |
| HAM & EGGS |
| HAMMER & TONGS |
| HORSE & BUGGY |
| KISS & TELL |
| LAUREL & HARDY |
| LAW & ORDER |
| LIFE & DEATH |
| MADNESS & CIVILIZATION |
| MAZES & MONSTERS |
| MEAT & POTATOES |
| MILK & HONEY |
| NICKEL & DIME |
| NULL & VOID |
| OIL & WATER |
| ONE & ONLY |
| ONES & ZEROES |
| PEN & INK |
| PINS & NEEDLES |
| POINT & CLICK |
| QUICK & DIRTY |
| READ & WRITE |
| RHYTHM & BLUES |
| ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN |
| RUN & HIDE |
| SAFE & SOUND |
| SHOW & TELL |
| SPEAK & SPELL |
| SURF & TURF |
| SWEET & SOUR |
| THUNDER & BLAZES |
| TOOTH & NAIL |
| TRIAL & ERROR |
| UPS & DOWNS |
| VODKA & CRANBERRY |
| WATCH & WAIT |
The shaded letters (bold above) spell out half of each of the eponymous partners from seven cop (or at least people-involved-with-the-legal-system) movies or television shows with titles in the same format:
| McMillan & Wife |
| Starksy & Hutch |
| Rizzoli & Isles |
| Dalziel and Pascoe |
| Dalziel and Pascoe |
| Eisenhower & Lutz |
| Turner & Hooch |
The initials of the missing partners spell the answer to the puzzle, WHIPPET.