The "no grease" theory is certainly slippery. I don't worry about it. I don't add grease and I wipe off crud including grease, but I do not degrease the surfaces. If I have a clearly pertinent torque spec, I do use it. I don't think those settings are especially tight. They are intended to be adequate to produce a joint which will not come loose. Other advice I've seen is practical - use a wrench which is the toolmaker's length for the bolt size. For crank bolts, the head is 14 mm and sometimes 15 mm. If you pull on the end until it hurts on your hand, that's practically enough. The purpose of a torque wrench is not to tighten things "tighter than &%^$##m" but to consistently tighten it well but not too tight. Bolts have to be removable by human beings, without destroying anything. When tightened, they have to stay tight until it's time to service the bike.

If I don't have a clearly pertinent spec, I look back at the Park mechanics manual or Zinn's Road Bike Repair book, and use their general guidelines.

I haven't found any of these specs to fail, though I have broken bolts by over tightening. Sometimes it poses a big problem, and sometimes not.