Separate a continental pair (8)
I believe the answer is:
uncouple
'separate' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a continental pair' is the wordplay.
'a continental' becomes 'un' (the word 'a' as said on the European continent).
'pair' becomes 'couple' (couple is a kind of pair**).
'un'+'couple'='UNCOUPLE'
(Other definitions for uncouple that I've seen before include "Detach (a railway carriage)" , "Detach (truck from train)" , "Disconnect" , "Release" , "Separate (carriage from train)" .)