Missing - added a hint for #17

Here is a list of one member of some familiar pairs of things. Your task is to name the missing partners. Word lengths are indicated by the hyphens.

-1. plug and ––––
-2. stand and –––––––
-3. rod and ––––
-4. pencil and –––––
-5. dumb and ––––––
-6. saints and –––––––
-7. bright and ––––– (Edit: 2 answers - CCb got shiny and Cue got early)
-8. alive and ––––––-
-9. scratch and –––– (Edit: 2 answers - Cue got dent and manxman got claw)
-10. push and –––––
-11. sweetness and –––––
-12. duck and –––––
-13. waffle and ––––– (Edit: 2 answers - curly got syrup, Cue got weave)
-14. loud and –––––
-15. plot and ––––––
-16. scrimp and ––––
-17. hound and –––––– (hint: a ratel)
-18. once and ––– –––
-19. lean and ––––
-20. bells and ––––––––
-21. checks and ––––––––
-22. hill and ––––
-23. bind and –––
-24. sackcloth and –––––
-25. chips and –––

24. ashes

Great start, Marian.

2. conquer

3. reel

Hey again Jema.

And to you again, curly.

#3 is on the nose , and the last 2 letters of #2 are correct.

21. balances

1. play

2. stand and deliver
16. scrimp and save

5. Dumber

funlcake, manxman, Flo (good team work with curly on #2), and SQF - all on the button

20. Bells and whistles

6. Sinners - Hi Jema

Bernie

12. cover

8. kicking

18. for all

22. dale

7. shiny

Hi Bernie. You, Rog, michele, manxman, and Gail

CCb, I edited #7 to show that there are 2 answers and you got 1 - shiny is a

25. dip

Hi LadyK. On the nose.

Thanks for the help Flo.

4. paper

9. save

Morning Jema.

14. clear

23. fly

7. breezy

16. save

curly #4, michele #14, and manxman #16

curly, #9, michele #23, and Rog #7 - not my answers - please try again.

23. tie

19. mean

7. early
9. dent

michele, #23 is not my answer. Please try again. Gee, 2 of the 3 letters are the same.

manxman, #19 is another

Cue, you got the elusive 2nd answer for #7, and now you've given me a 2nd one for #9. I edited the list to indicate there are 2 answers and you got "dent".

10 - shove
11 - light
23 - gag

nightowl x 3

9. claw

That's the one, manxman

13. syrup

17. falcon

Hi Jema.

15. scheme

Hi curly, I'll take syrup as a 2nd word for #13 and edit the list accordingly. Please try again for #17 - it's not a bird.

Bob

17. rabbit?

13. piffle

17. hunter

Gail, Rog, and Cue - not my answers. Please try again.

13. waver

A rare miss for you, manxman! But the 2 words together mean that.

13. jargon?

A rare miss for you also, Cue.

Like I told manxman above, the 2 words together mean waver. Now I'll add, there's only one letter different between waver and the word I'm looking for.

I have to laugh since I guess I can't count either. "jargon" has one too many letters. Anyhooo, you have me stumped. I'll take a shot at "weave" since it appears to possibly fit the clues you've given.

You're not stumped, Cue - you got it.

I added a hint for #17.

17. badger

Thanks, manxman - great finish!