Times Quick Cryptic No 3024 by Teazel

HOROSCOPE means “observing the hour” (of someone’s birth, etc.), from Greek hōroskopos from hōra “hour” + skopos “watcher”.

The casting of a nativity i.e. an observation or diagram of the heavens, showing the positions of planets, on any given day, is attested from 1650s.

A RIFLE is a portable firearm having a barrel or barrels with a spirally grooved bore. As a verb, RIFLE means “to cut spiral grooves in“.

I had bunged in LOOK SHARP here initially which considerably affected my ability to solve 7d.

An example of the second might be, “Jenny sat there in utter/complete disbelief as the truth of the matter dawned on her“.

This being a down clue, I took ‘sustaining’ to mean ‘supporting’ in the sense that ELEVENS is being supported by ES.

This meal-between-meals phenomenon was first recorded in 1823 as an “elevener.” As tea became more affordable to the working class, the term evolved – In 1849, a Suffolk commentary on agricultural workers mentioned both “elevens” and “fourzes” as work breaks.

The term ELEVENSES came about during the height of the Industrial Revolution and was in use by 1887 as tearooms blossomed in towns and cities across the UK. Ever since, workers, idlers, shoppers and tourists alike have seen 11am as a convenient time for mid-morning refuelling.

The eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet.

This was my breeze-block, not helped by entering a P at the end of 18a, the fourth letter of the second word here.

See also 9a, where ‘angered’ was used in a different manner.

I have the second definition as semi-cryptic, a DOG-END in British slang being a cigarette butt, it would formerly (used to) have smoked.

Apparently (and in my humble opinion, not entirely convincingly), DOG-END is a 1930s armed forces corruption of ‘docked end’, a piece of a cigarette nipped off and saved for later.