Maybe Durham employee entertains unknown American (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
new yorker
'american' is the definition.
(New Yorker is an example)
'maybe durham employee entertains unknown' is the wordplay.
'maybe durham' becomes 'ne' (north east of England).
'employee' becomes 'worker' (I've seen this before**).
'entertains' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'unknown' becomes 'y' (algebra).
'worker' placed around 'y' is 'wyorker'.
'ne'+'wyorker'='NEW YORKER'
(Other definitions for new yorker that I've seen before include "Queens resident, possibly" , "American weekly magazine, first published 1925" , "US publication" , "Magazine - inhabitant of the Big Apple" , "Statesman" .)