Wile E. Coyote's supplier / MON 12-28-20 / UK medal accepted then returned by John Lennon in brief / Like Satan and some owls /

THEME: apex — themers are all vertical and their first words, i.e. the word at the uppermost part of the grid, all mean "uppermost":

Theme answers:

• ACME CORPORATION (3D: Wile E. Coyote's supplier)
• PEAK PERFORMANCE (5D: Athlete's goal in competition)
• HEIGHT OF FASHION (9D: Absolute chicness)
• TOP OF THE MORNING (11D: Quaint greeting)

Word of the Day: MBE (66D: U.K. medal accepted and then returned by John Lennon, in brief)—

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of the order. [...] The five classes of appointment to the Order are, in descending order of precedence:

1. GBE – Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire^[b]
2. KBE or DBE – Knight Commander or Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
3. CBE – Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
4. OBE – Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
5. MBE – Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (wikipedia)

Like many recent puzzles, this one feels like it was made 25 years ago, but at least this one is solid, as 1995 puzzles go. ACME, PEAK, HEIGHT (metaphorically), TOP, yep, those all mean the same thing, and they all appear at the "top" or their answer, *and* they are all a grid-spanning 15 letters long. Simple, tight theme, elegantly expressed. The fill is ... well, it's from 1995. It's there. It's largely inoffensive. Don't look too hard. Just look at the theme. The theme is fine. 

This one took me in the neighborhood of ten seconds longer than usual, but I'm attributing those seconds to my Manhattan (delicious), because looking over this grid, I don't really see any places that I got significantly hung up. I had ACME but no idea what followed. I had no idea re: PEAK PERFORMANCE because it doesn't sound like what the clue suggests. "What's your goal in this competition, athlete?""PEAK PERFORMANCE!" No, you want to win. Are you competing? Then you want to win. You want victory. PEAK PERFORMANCE, what kind of mumbo jumbo is that. You're trying to win or what are you even doing. HEIGHT OF FASHION I got off the "H," and TOP OF THE MORNING didn't take me that many crosses either (shouldn't it be "Top O' the morning"— I feel like past crosswords have insisted that that is the expression). Really thought having all the themers being 15s, and not struggling That much with any of them, would put me in a faster-than-average solving situation. But no. Had STAY before STUD (10A: Tuxedo shirt fastener) (You can tell I wear tuxedos a Lot). PDF before GIF (46A: Internet image file, familiarly). Honestly had no idea about WAX until I got all the crosses. Honeycomb stuff is honey. WAX? Sure, but come on—"stuff" should mean what the honeycomb contains, not what it's made of. Bah. The answer that took me longest, and was the last thing I filled in, was INTERACT (58A: Be sociable), perhaps because I haven't INTERACTed with anyone but my wife and cats for, oh, (looks at watch) 8 months. 

British Empire medal abbrevs. (today, MBE) are the absolute lowest form of fill (after plural suffixes), a staple of a bygone era when constructors desperately needed *any* three-letter answers they could get their hands on because they didn't have access to software to make their lives easier and thus make solvers' lives more pleasurable. Such abbrevs. really have no place in an easy puzzle any more. If you're in a real tight spot, OK, fine, but ... well, I see how you've got two themers running through that section, so maybe that counts as a "tight spot" (you've got the awful ACAB in the symmetrical section up top). Still, though, if you're a constructor, consider banishing UK medals from your wordlist, or (better) just making them fill of last resort. Goodbye.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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