"Typical of" or "typical for"?

Solution 1:

I'd say 'That's typical of him' would be far more common than the alternative.

However, in 'This meal is typical of local cookery', 'is typical of' can be replaced by 'is a typical example of'.

While in 'This meal is typical for the area', 'is typical for' can be replaced by 'is representative of what can be found [produced] in/by'.

Usage does seem rather unpredictable. Perhaps 'That's [just] typical of him' should be regarded as an idiomatic usage, and the two substitution-tests above taken as a rule of thumb.

Solution 2:

You intrinsic/extrinsic test seems to describe how I handle the of/for issue with typical. Here's a look at the relative frequencies of the two constructions.