Appears on the way to town (5)
I believe the answer is:
seems
'appears' is the definition.
('seem' can be a synonym of 'appear')
'the way to town' is the wordplay.
'the way' becomes 'se' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to town' becomes 'ems' (I have seen 'German town' mean 'ems' so perhaps 'town' could also mean 'ems').
'se'+'ems'='SEEMS'
'on' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seems that I've seen before include "Gives a certain impression" , "Appears, looks" .)