Cursor actions unavailable while timeline is playing

Currently using Adobe Premiere V 23.5.0 Build 56

I use "No Scroll" in my timeline (preferred)

In addition to dealing with the horendous issue of the timeline snapping to the playhead every time I press the spacebar (pause), I am now experiencing an issue where sometimes after I play the timeline, the cursor functions are no longer available. If I try to change to the cut tool, or click on the timeline while it is playing, nothing happens. It isn't every time, but most of the time. I notice this happens almost everytime I hit play and then zoom in or out, the cursor functions are no longer available. I have to pause the video and then I can cut, or click on the timeline...