Solution: Inferior-quality item, informally - NYT Crossword

This is a debut, and made me chuckle a little bit because for some reason I paired it with MEW at 47D. CHEAPIE, here, for something that’s just not very well made, is onomatopoeic for a little bird sound. Not that it’s really relevant to the definition. I never thought CHEAPIE was really a dig. I always heard or used the word in the context of something that might be valiant and serviceable, despite its small cost, like this kitchen chopper I’ve had for the longest time that just continues to chop away — it was a CHEAPIE but I’ll be sad when it grows dull in the tooth.