Thanks! I’m realizing that the difficulty curve around there is maybe a bit harder than I expected haha. Something to think about for the future!
I thought you handled it well! There's a real virtue to levels that are impossible-feeling until you've grasped a concept or non-intuitive interaction, as they let the player discover something rather than just seeing it demonstrated to them. The elegance of level 9 is that you understand you must have missed something important and it's simple enough to guide you towards the interaction you haven't yet tried.