What to do with wet clothes in favourite haunt (7)

I believe the answer is:

hangout

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

'haunt' is the definition.
(I know that haunt can be written as hangout)

'what to do with wet clothes in favourite' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'do' could be 'ut' (synonyms) and 'ut' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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