Fail seeing Santa's reindeer? Hang out nuts (4,2,6)

I believe the answer is:

come to naught

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'fail' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'santa's reindeer? hang out nuts' is the wordplay.
'santa's reindeer?' becomes 'comet' (name of one of Santa Claus reindeer).
'nuts' indicates anagramming the letters (nuts can mean crazy).
'hang'+'out'='hangout'
'hangout' with letters rearranged gives 'onaught'.
'comet'+'onaught'='COME TO NAUGHT'

'seeing' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for come to naught that I've seen before include "will fail" , "...less three" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app