When we said we “drew a blank” with the instructions to this month’s puzzle, we meant it quite literally: “Can U Dig It” should have instead read “Can U Digit”. The instructions are to find “cans” and U-shaped “digits”.

And so: in the grid there are 13 pairs of “can”-associated words, each canning a U-shaped “digit” (of some kind):

TIN (can), UNITS (digit)
CAN(-can), THUMB
END, RING TOE
OIL, TENS
JAR, PINKY
FIRE, BINARY
SODA, HALLUX
TRASH, APPENDAGE
SPRAY, INTEGER
PAINT, BASE TEN
OPENER, HUNDREDS
ALUMINUM, HEXADECIMAL
EGE BAMYASI, POINTER FINGER

The unused letters state “find the twentieth smallest number with digits totaling twenty-six”. And that number – the answer to this month’s puzzle – is 3599.

Congrats to everyone who found the hidden message!