The Altai Mountains, a horse bit and a goddess

Every Saturday my husband and I do the crossword – not together, we copy the puzzle so we can each do it separately… does that sound eccentric? My children think it does.

I got totally stumped by some clues…

1. Author of ‘Toxophilus’ (‘Lover of the Bow’) and ‘The Schoolmaster‘ who tutored Lady Jane Gray, Mary I and Elizabeth I in their youth
2. Miss _______, headmistress in two TV series based on Jill Murphy’s ‘The Worst Witch’ books
3. River flowing from the Altai Mountains through Kazakhstan to the Ob in Russia
4. Prime Minister from 1743-54, Edward Bulwer-Lytton novel, or a type of bit
5. Greek goddess of retribution, or the subtitle of the tenth Star Trek film
6. small magnifying device used by some jewellers and horologists
7. open cluster of stars in the centre of the Orion Nebula

Perhaps I should know the author of ‘Toxophilus’ since I studied the history and literature of the time, but I never read the Witch books to my children and didn’t see the TV series. Maybe I should know the eighteenth century Prime Minister, since I ‘did’ history – but didn’t do that period (well, that’s my excuse!) My general geography isn’t too bad, but Kazakhstani and Russian rivers are not my strong point – nor are Greed gods and goddesses, although they come up in crosswords so often maybe I should start learning them! As for astronomy and horology… no, as I said, I’m stumped!

So I’ll cheat, and here are the answers:

1. Roger Ascham – there was a school not far from where I lived as a child in Cambridge called the Roger Ascham School – I didn’t ever know who he was or why he had a school named after him – if I had then I could have answered the question!
2. Miss Cackle
3. The River Irtysh
4. Henry Pelham  (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754), a Whig, was the third Prime Minister,  from 27 August 1743 until his death. Bulwer-Lytton was born on 25 May 1803 and published Pelham in 1828; he died in 1869. A pelham is also a type of horse’s bit.
5. I should have known Nemesis, shouldn’t I?!
6. The jeweller and watchmakers magnifying glass is a loupe – I didn’t know that although I still have the one belonging to my dad
7. Trapezium