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Vacuous drive to plug identical articles from a certain range (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

andean

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'from a certain range' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'vacuous drive to plug identical articles' is the wordplay.
'vacuous' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'to plug' indicates putting letters inside (to plug can mean to block a gap within something).
'identical articles' becomes 'anan' (the indefinite article 'an', twice. I am not sure about the 'identical' bit.).
'drive' with its centre removed is 'de'.
'de' put within 'anan' is 'ANDEAN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for andean that I've seen before include "Relating to a South American chain" , "Like Incas or llamas" , "Relating to South American mountains" , "within range?" , "Peak District" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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