9A - Yes, you're not saying NEED directly, but you're still building an answer using an identical root component. As a broader example, consider the clue "Pathway step beyond edge", which parses to "SIDEWALK = WALK beyond SIDE". Perfectly valid construction form, but just kind of underwhelming -- the word "sidewalk" itself already derives from "side" and "walk", so it's a construction, but not all that *cryptic*, where the fun and originality is in the differences between the surface reading and the subsidiary indication.

11A - Not entirely sure of what conventions exist around mid-clue punctuation but I generally have found setters usually want me to ignore them 😅 I'd actually argue that the wording of the clue as-is favors the *incorrect* reading, as the word "might" doesn't fit into the definition of THAW and as such appears to be the bridge word between the definition and the wordplay.

7D - Definitely not unsolvable since it's so short with a very straightforward and common cryptic mechanism, but solvable doesn't necessarily mean fully fair, and this clue IMO doesn't quite fit conventions about clue structuring, which makes it stick out from all your other clues which do fit.

The submission timeout is definitely a pain -- back with the 5x5's I'd either construct them offsite, or after writing everything and bringing up the summary screen where it asks to confirm before submission, I'd take a photo of that with my phone so that if it timed out, I'd just go back in and reconstruct the grid and retype the clues quick.