Countryman putting burden on apprentice (5)
I believe the answer is:
yokel
'countryman' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'burden on apprentice' is the wordplay.
'burden' becomes 'yoke' (I've seen this before).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'apprentice' becomes 'l' (abbreviation for 'Learner').
'yoke'+'l'='YOKEL'
'putting' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for yokel that I've seen before include "Hick" , "Countryman" , "Unsophisticated rustic" , "Country bumpkin" , "Unsophisticated country person" .)