Ya sure
sometimes I desaturate directly.
in some more tricky situations (in the colour sense) i use the channel mixer set to monotone. If you are familiar with how colour filters work in real B&W you can understand how it works (eg red filter lightens red based colours while it darkens the opposite end of the colour wheel, in this case cyan. )
for contrast i use the normal curves adjustment sometimes. Most of the time i just use contrast and brightness bar.
I try to model the look after my old film shots.
But digital B&W still loses in some situations. There are some situations i have to adjust like mad but film just handles the light situation with ease.
I have seen some examples of editing multiple layers differently and overlaying them. But thats too much work for me. I can understand that for people shooting landscapes it is important though.