Focus crossword 89

[pollythecat]

Stuck on last few

Disorder of the central nervous system ??H?S??
Grant to build variable framework ???T?Y
Mediterranean tree with prickly leaves ?A?M? ?A?
Prise off a former name in the middle east ?E?D?U?
pretentious person got prosecuted we hear ??E?D
Cut a brief plan to make forks ???A?C?T?
primary layer of plant tissue ??R?B?E?
despaired about couple P???

[Mamyalynne]

pretentious person is Pseud

[CSIambleside]

prise off a - Persia

[CSIambleside]

desPAIRed

[pollythecat]

unfortunately persia does not fit as it has 7 letters including a d and a u
I have pair but if this is correct it is a poor clue

Thanks mamyalynne - obvius when you know

[Mamyalynne]

despaired is Pair

[Mamyalynne]

cut a brief (anag) bifurcate ( to fork) so your "a" is wrong

[Mamyalynne]

disorder is Aphasia
Grant to build is Gantry

[pollythecat]

Thanks. I'd worked aphasia and gantry out after I posted. Bifurcate was good though. I had tried anagrams and got nowhere.

[pollythecat]

Got the plant tissue one - periblem
So just the med tree, the middle east name
and another I missed - a bird somewhere on the nile A?C?N

[pollythecat]

Got ANCON for the bird but a very obscure clue