WP query sort order

hi guys,

i’m trying to sort my posts in a custom post order.

$partner = new WP_Query( array( 
	'post_type' => 'partner', 
	'posts_per_page' => -1,
	'nopaging' => true,
	'meta_query' => array($meta_query)
	 ) ); 

starts my query. all fine.

i’m trying to sort my posts in a cusstom sort order.

this works:

global $query_string;
query_posts( $query_string . '&order=ASC' );

this doesn’t:

global $query_string;
query_posts( $query_string . '&order=ASC&orderby=name' );

why?

i also tried

$args = array_merge( $partner->query_vars, array( 'order' => 'DESC','orderby' => 'name' ) );
query_posts( $args )

no effect either. args are merged correctly, but sort order doesn’t change.

2nd question:

i execute a second query that checks inside custom post type projects which projects th partner took place in:

function solarhaus_verlinkung($partner_name){
	$meta_query[]=array(
		'relation' => 'OR',
			array('key' => 'planung_gebaeude','value' => $titel_clean,'compare' => 'LIKE'),
		);
	$solarhaeuser = new WP_Query( array( 
		'post_type' => 'solarhaus',
		'posts_per_page' => -1,
		'meta_query' => array($meta_query)
	) ); 
	$solarhaeuser->wp_reset_postdata();
	return $solarhaeuser;	
}

this gives me the number of the partners projects.
what would be the best way to first sort by date ASC then by number of projects? could i set up something like

while ( $partner->have_posts() ) : $partner->get_the_post()['projects_number'] = "xo";