Hey Chuck, good to see that you were able to fix the exploit easily!
For pressing A to restart and start a level, I can see why it would be disruptive. But, one reason why I put that there is that a few of the levels I made are designed such that if players stand still for too long, they would die from a (slowly enroaching) wall of spikes, or an enemy would move to their position and kill them. Another reason why I chose to have players press A is because I thought that some players would like to look at the level for a few seconds, as well as have a little breathing room after they died several times.
That said, I will consider your feedback! I actually considered a while ago having some sort of fade-out to fade-in transition after death, so it's good to hear another person suggest it and give me a little push to do it.
So, thank you for giving me feedback, and for letting me have the pleasure to play your game! I hope the rest of your game development and your game release goes well!