A writing surface to put the tick on (5)
I believe the answer is:
slate
'a writing surface' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'the tick on' is the wordplay.
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'tick' becomes 'slae' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'on' means one lot of letters goes inside another (as in clothing 'on' a person).
't' put within 'slae' is 'SLATE'.
'to put' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for slate that I've seen before include "Blast" , "A roof-tile; criticise heavily" , "Stone used for roofing" , "Metamorphic rock that can be split into thin layers" , "Roofing plate" .)