The clue really was just “Eraser head”. It’s the answer that was “LONGE”. Without the “long”, it would just be “E”. 
It’s cool you worked full time with crosswords. When are we getting an, “Ask the crossword constructor” thread?
It rhymes with me.
And Speed Racer.
E-Racer. Which I guess the Canadians (or at least BNL) agree with:
Long E. Lifetime California native.
I wonder if the problem is that it’s hard to identify unaccented vowel sounds? Maybe we’re all pronouncing it the same, but some call the sound a long E, and others don’t.
The Oxford Online Dictionaries has American and British pronunciations both using the “i in pit” pronunciation.
On the other hand, a site called Forvo, has six pronunciations, which I would classify as three "i in pit"s, one schwa, and two actual long Es, so I guess it is possible. I still have doubts it really sounds like that in conversation though.
(I am surprised how much British vocalize the S into an American Z sound.)