Monday's New York Times puzzle solved: January 22, 2018

Today's time: 5:57.

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An impressive and fun theme by Paolo Pasco that shows the effects of EROSION on words.  In the themed phrases, the final word loses one letter from alternating ends with each appearance, so that what was stone becomes only an O.  La La Land actress EMMA STONE starts the series, which is followed by QUARTER TONE (losing the starting "s"), METRIC TON (losing the final "e"), I MEAN COME ON (losing the starting "t"), and finally STANDING O.

A perfect Monday theme.  Not too hard, but unexpected, with that "a-ha" moment that makes the final pieces fall into place.  Some good unusual fill, too, like FLOOR IT, TAN LINE, X-ACTO, and OBLASTS.

Iranian currency is RIAL.  There are a lot of currencies that have  a similar name.

I think crossword constructors must get paid extra for putting OLE in their puzzles.

I like OH FUN for "sounds exciting..."  They both mean the same thing when said in an exaggerated, sarcastic voice.

"Times past noon, informally" is AFTS, which is ridiculous.  First of all, no one says, "yeah, I had a really relaxing aft."  And they certainly don't pluralize it.  Try saying "afts."  No one  says that.

For "group of eight" I confidently put *OCTET but it's OCTAD.

LILA Bell Wallace was the co-founder of "Reader's Digest" with her husband, DeWitt Wallace, in 1922.

"Put down the CHALUPA."  Remember that Taco Bell ad?  It's a deep-fried dough shaped kind of like the boat of the same name.

MAMBO appears for the first time since September 22, 2017, when I mistakenly put *MAMBA.  I didn't do that this time.

Cluing ERNIE as "character long rumored to be Bert's lover" is sure to earn a rebuking note from Sesame Street.

And that's it.  OMAN, I should have done this in a TRICE.