AU builds with "Legacy" build system but not "New" build system - why?

I found my problem.

I have been using a low-level “helper” code for denormalizing that worked really well in the past but apparently is too old now. I commented out that code and the project builds as New Build System with no errors. This denormal code was also causing the arm64 build problem on this thread: Successfully compiled for ARM/M1 - I thought!