My time: 10:51, four and a half minutes faster than average.
Jesus, Mary, or Joseph (NAZARENE), this was an impressive fill! We have KALAMAZOO, IZOD, RAJAHS, AZALEAS, XEROXES, cartoon boy JASON FOX, and more. All I can say is GOOD JOB.
We've all heard of the Marquis de SADE, but it took a bit for it to click that he must be the kinkster behind the 1795 hit "Philosophy in the Bedroom." Though initially considered a work of pornography, the book has come to be considered a socio-political drama. Set in a bedroom, the two lead characters make the argument that the only moral system that reinforces the recent political revolution is hedonism, and that if the people of France fail to adopt the libertine philosophy, France will be destined to return to a monarchic state. Throughout the work, Sade makes the argument that one must embrace atheism, reject society's beliefs about pleasure and pain, and further makes his argument that if any crime is committed while seeking pleasure, it cannot be condemned. Sounds like the incels online today. La plus ça change!
I think I have heard somewhere before that Nikola TESLA was friends with Mark Twain. According to one story, Twain tried out an oscillating machine that Tesla had set up, and the vibrations made him have to make a mad dash for the bathroom.
I've never heard of the ASIAN Games ("second-largest multisport event after the Olympics"). I wanted to put *PAN-AM. Also known as the Asiad, the ASIAN Games are also held every four years.
For "heat-resistant glass" I wanted to put *PYREX, probably with 95% of other solvers, but that's a trap. It's SILEX, which seems to mean flint or silica, ground stone. It was either a type or brand of glass used mostly for percolators in the '70s.
KALAMAZOO, Michigan, in addition to being the funniest American city name, is also the title of a 1942 Glenn Miller hit: "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo." The lyrics feature letters as wordplay: "A B C D E F G H I got a gal in Kalamazoo..."
"Acts like a quidnunc" was the clue that sent solvers across the nation sprinting for their dictionaries, like so many Mark Twains heading for the toilet. A quidnunc is a gossip, so MEDDLES in the answer. I've heard this word before but it hasn't exactly made it to my list of 10,000 most used words.
We're all familiar with the work of Pablo NERUDA, or at least Bart Simpson and I are, but didn't know he was a senator. He was in the communist party and a friend of Castro.
I'm terrible with geography. The ZAMBEZI River is Africa's fourth-longest, and its most celebrated feature is Victoria Falls, on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
There are so many colleges! EMERSON is a liberal arts college founded in 1880 in Boston.
AZALEAS are the flowers whose name derives from Greek roots meaning "to dry." I was looking for something that might have a soft X or a Z in it, from xero-.
"Two bells, nautically" is ONE P.M. But it also could be 1:00 a.m., or 5:00, or 9:00. Here is a handy chart to ship's bell time.
Never heard of ELEANOR Smeal, three-term president of NOW. She is also the president and a co-founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation, founded in 1987.
"Devils' advocate?" is NHL, referring to the New Jersey Devils.
Soccer star ALI Krieger came up on October 13, 2018.
Clever clues: "Occasion for grilling" has nothing to do with the weather; it's ORAL EXAM. "Half of Italy" is MEZZO. "Decreases, in a way?" is STEAMS; I didn't get it for a bit, but it's de-creases. "Fine example?" is LATE FEE.
I would call this a top-notch Friday. No theme, no too-clever clues, no ambiguous clues. Just challenging questions and a grid packed with amazing fill.
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