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In found this sentence in a novel (甘城ブリリアントパーク). The person that is talked about here is a fairly intelligent guy who is at the time of utterance visiting a theme park. He has seen several mascots already which are all designed in a similar pattern. After he sees the outfit of yet another one this sentence is expressed.

「（オーソドックスなかわいさとでもいうのか。）きちんとツボを押さえているのはさすがといったところだ。」

As far as I understood it the 「ツボを押さえている」means that he got the essential points of the mascots' design pattern; however what follows is troubling me. (https://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%84%E3%83%9C%E3%82%92%E6%8A%BC%E3%81%95%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B)

Usually 「といったところ」is explained as "a certain amount (that is not really impressive)"; therefore my question is: Does this last part imply that it is pretty obvious for aforementioned protagonist to fully understand/grasp the "general design pattern" of the theme park? (https://nihongonosensei.net/?p=11855) (https://j-nihongo.com/toittatokoroda/)

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In this sentence, 「といったところ」is "it "is worth"/"deserves" ~~(to how much extent)". So, 「さすがといったところ」means "worth praise." or "deserve acclaim", or something alike which expresses her authenticity to "so-called orthodox cuteness".

「ツボを押さえる」may come from "acupuncture". It is used to massage/press the point/part which is effective to soften the fatigue of some body parts. ex) massage around eyebrow may relieve eyestrain to some extent.

So「ツボを押さえる」, changed into the idiom expresses "to the point".( similar to "tickling one's funny bone" may mean 「笑いのツボを押さえる」)

All in all, the sentence should mean "the mascot's cuteness hitting to the spot/point is well worth praise."

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  • Please bear with me for these follow-up questions: 1. Would 「といったところ」 mean "the moment one says ..." if translated literally? 2. Does it mean "worth～" in a similar sense as 「ほど」(worth to a certain amount?) 3. How can 「さすが」mean what it means here I think I've heard it used like that before but in the dictionary entries, especially English ones, it is usually translated as "as one would expect".
    – Himula
    Commented Apr 6, 2020 at 8:49
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    @Himula For 1. 「といったところ」basically means "How much extent it is worth". So, without "さすが", the extent is unspecified. I am not sure "the moment one says..." though, I feel "the moment" indicates something more specified. For 2. It's bit complicated. I think it's interchangeable in many cases, but I think「ほど」is used with "nominalized words" more often than「といったところ」. For 3. Yes.「さすが」means "It meets one's expectation/ it is just what one expected"
    – kimi Tanaka
    Commented Apr 6, 2020 at 10:29

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