Can less be used without any comparison?

Can I use "less" in sentences like this:

1 Why do we have so less number of students for this class?

2 My song collection is very less.

"Small" sounds better in both examples, but I would like to know if using "less" in these sentences is correct?

Solution 1:

No, it isn't. Less is the comparative of little, and least is the superlative. You can no more say My song collection is very less than you can say My song collection is very smaller.

Solution 2:

Less, more, fewer are comparative adjectives/adberbs.

Am I allowed to say

I like eating durians because they are less pungent.

Why is there so much less (for non-discretely countables) snow today?

Why are there far fewer (for discretely countables) students today?

Yes, provided you have either an implied or prior situation for comparison.

Therefore,

Miriam: I love eating petai peas.

Aminah: I like eating durians because they are less pungent.

For the following two sentences, there are respective implied pre-existing situations available for comparison.

Why is there so much less snow today? (implied comparison with yesterday or the last snow storm)

Why are there far fewer students today? (implied comparison with yesterday or the last time the class was held)