h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well well.

March of the toreadors, prelude to Carmen.

Surprised myself there.

Now then...

Another opera why not? One word:

Burnt Fitzgerald, by short flower spotted joint.

(That's the English version of the title by the way)

I don't actually know that many operas but figured I might stand a better chance narrowing down permutations of 'Toasted Ella' if I had a stab at the name. Is 'short flower spotted joint' the composer's surname only?

It is. The opera's title is a well-known fairy tale.

Ah - Cinderella. I never knew it was an opera though! Going to have to think a bit longer about any likely composers... Anyone else any ideas? Can't think of any with surnames starting 'Daisy' (short flower). If it's 'flower-spotted' then Meadow - certainly can't think of any composers called 'Lowmeadowknee' or similar though! Ponder ponder

I'm using the crossword convention of saying 'short' when I lop off a letter… you can google who wrote Cinderella, or as he called it, La Cenerentola

Rossini I'm afraid I don't do crosswords so the conventions are unfamiliar. Might make my descriptions more concise when I learn a few more!

I'm going to go for a building this time. One word: before it hits the ground, how would you best describe the state of the non-alcoholic beverage you just dropped.

Hmm... waterfall?

Try switching the two halves of the word. Also, the architect is one of the few who is the subject of a song.

OK. I was tempted to put Fall-tea Towers but that's two words. Had to google, as I'd never heard of Fallingwater.

Looking back at post 1, I see we are to describe an idea/action/place/person/thing/etc. rather than a show, so here's a school subject:

Two words, one syllable then four syllables:

1 An expanse, or a machine for raising, or one for lowering

2 Letter-mantra-alien-about

Most of those clues are of the "sounds-like" variety. The machines (tools) are spelt right, though, and so is the alien.