> Version bumps should really be about removing deprecated cruft rather than shiny new features.

Can there be deprecated cruft without new features? :-D

Yes, the features don't need to be added immediately.

Ideally: no.

All new shiny new features shouldn't have waited for the (N+1).0 version, they should already have been part of the (N).(M) version.

In practice, the removing the deprecated cruft will remove blockers for some new features, but that should be rare.