"No way for an attentive player to lose" is the note I needed and did not have, so thank you for taking it apart. You are right that careful play wins every time and mashing wins too, which means the speed ramp and the hearts never actually come into play, and the only way to lose was to do nothing. I built it so early taps cost nothing because I did not want to punish people, and that quietly erased the whole difficulty. The fix I am taking: make the first interruption deliberately uncatchable so it lands and pulls a clause back, and make early taps cost something small. The catch point sitting on top of her sentence is the one thing I would not touch.