Trace a dud cartridge and get nowhere (4,1,5)
I believe the answer is:
draw a blank
'get nowhere' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'trace a dud cartridge' is the wordplay.
'trace' becomes 'draw' (synonyms).
'dud cartridge' becomes 'blank' (blank is a kind of cartridge. I am not sure about the 'dud' bit.).
'draw'+'a'+'blank'='DRAW A BLANK'
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for draw a blank that I've seen before include "Get no successful response" , "Come up empty-handed" , "lucky in Russian roulette" , "elicit no successful response" , "In board game players like to" .)