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Things in general, formal and old-fashioned? Not quite (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stuff

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'things' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'old-fashioned? not quite' is the wordplay.
'old-fashioned?' becomes 'stuffy' (I've seen this before).
'not quite' means to remove the last letter (most but not all of the word).
'stuffy' with its last letter removed is 'STUFF'.

'in general formal and' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for stuff that I've seen before include "Matter" , "Material - gorge" , "Miscellaneous objects" , "crowd" , "facts" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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