Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: December 17, 2020

My time: 6:37, a new Thursday record, beating the old one by eleven seconds!

Theme: BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH is celebrated in this puzzle.  The circled squares (three Gs) and the shaded section on a lower line (E FLAT) are meant to represent the celebrated dum, dum, dum, BUM of the Fifth's opening.

The puzzle also recognizes that ol' LUDWIG (baptized December 17, 1770) went DEAF, and of course includes the omnipresent OBOE.

Oh, and "the opening motif of the Fifth is supposed to represent" FATE.  That is, the notes are FATE knocking at the door.  This story is often discredited, however.

Finally, "key to this puzzle's theme?" is C MINOR.  That's the key the symphony is in.

And now, the fill.

In a nice bit of synchronicity, I just the other day encountered the SCOTS insult "Yer bum's oot the windae," although it's pretty easy to see from the dialect where it's from.  I just wished they'd also included 'bampot.'

I have used GOGO to get on the internet in mid-flight, but it isn't exactly a household word in my household.  It was founded in 1991.

Not being familiar with every one of India's 28 states, I had to get a few crosses before TAMIL Nadu was solved.  It's one of India's most urbanized and industrialized states.  It's the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. The economy of TAMIL Nadu is the second-largest state economy in India, after Maharashtra.

"Extinct flightless bird" is MOA, an ostrich-like bird of New Zealand killed off by humans.

'Absolutely no idea and crossfill doesn't help' department: the Swiss Alp RIGI, Queen of the Mountains.  Located next to Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug and Lake Lauerz, it is a prime skiing area.  The epithet 'Queen of the Mountains' comes from an erroneous interpretation of RIGI as being derived from regina, but it actually comes from an old German word meaning strip, ridge, or band.

"Sight on Disney World's Expedition Everest ride" is YETI.  It's an animatronic attraction.  Apparently it often doesn't work.

The Summer Triangle of stars came up on April 22, 2018, but about Deneb, in Cygnus.  The answer today, VEGA, has come up before as the brightest star in Lyra, but not as part of the Summer Triangle.  The three points of the asterism are VEGA, Deneb, and Altair (the brightest star in Aquila).

Marlee MATLIN is a noted deaf actress who won a Best Actress Oscar for Children of a Lesser God.

I did not know there was a Copland ballet called RODEO.  Subtitled "The Courting at Burnt Ranch," the ballet consists of five sections: "Buckaroo Holiday," "Corral Nocturne," "Ranch House Party," "Saturday Night Waltz," and "Hoe-Down."

"Lover of Radames" is AIDA, a fact which I am proud to have remembered from its most recent appearance on August 8, 2018 (which as of today still maintains the Wednesday time record).

Clever clues: "Items that are hard to throw away?" is BOOMERANGS.  "Credit line?" is ROLE, as in a line in the credits; that's a sneaky one.

I loved this one!  I like it when the theme sneaks into many answers, not just one or two.  The clues were sneaky and fun, and there was a lot of new material to learn.  Great Thursday puzzle.