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Not finishing various starters of Italian endives, dressed like some tomatoes (3-5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sun-dried

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'not finishing various starters of italian endives dressed like some tomatoes' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'not finishing various starters of italian endives dressed' is the wordplay.
'not finishing' means to remove the last letter.
'various' becomes 'sundry' (sundry means various or diverse).
'starters of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'italian endives dressed' is 'ied'.
'sundry' with its last letter taken away is 'sundr'.
'sundr'+'ied'='SUN-DRIED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sun-dried that I've seen before include "Treated like some Mediterranean tomatoes etc." , "Desiccated by exposure to the heat of the day" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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