Items not dry enough after spin cycle, some water remains in machine

The amount of creasing you will get is directly related to the speed you select for the final spin dry cycle and the spin after the first wash cycle which occurs prior to the rinse cycle. The higher the speed and the longer it goes for the more the clothes will crease.

Experiment with different spin speeds on your machine for clothing that is subject to the creasing problem. Also do not put too many items in the machine for a wash as many people do as this will contribute to creasing. Always under load your machine for every wash cycle.

Spin drying is a compromise between creasing and maximum water removal. If you want less creasing you will need to select a more gentle spin dry speed but you will also have the clothes coming out of the machine with a higher water content and they will take a bit longer to dry. The spin time on the program may also be shorter.

In my own machines I use a gentle wash and spin cycle for all clothing that I don't want heavily creased. Running it on a wash cycle with a high and longer spin speed when the machine is spinning the clothes after the initial wash, and then again after the final rinse, will thoroughly crease the clothes every time.

Also bear in mind that different fabrics that are suitable for machine washing will perform differently and some are just too subject to creasing even if you use the most gentle wash, rinse and spin cycle. Hence you can take 2 different 100% cotton fabrics out of a machine and hang them to dry and one will be almost crease free and the other will be thoroughly creased. With these fabrics that are just very subject to wash creasing, it is better to hand wash and rinse them. Then after rinsing drip dry them or put them in the machine and spin them for 1 -2 minutes maximum just to get some of the water out and hang dry them.

sometimes small items get over the edge of the tub & as you said can plug the pump, most get caught in the hose

Most Whirlpool (Hotpoint) machines have "out of balance" sensors that detect very large movements of the drum suspension usually due to a very badly balanced washing load.
This can occur for various reasons but putting large and/or heavy items in can trigger these sensors i,f as the machine starts to spin, the items dont get distributed evenly around the drum. This is more likley with large/heavy items.
The machine will then restrict the spin speed for the remainder of the wash cycle, and once the machine is switched off, the next time the machine is used it returns the spin speed back to normal - but if it detects an out of balance situation, it will again restrict the spin speed.
It sounds to me the machine is acting as designed. You could try positioning the items differently as you load them, and hope they dont end up "all over one side".

It's normal if it just adds a little bit of water. It does this so your drain pump impeller doesn't run dry which could damage it. If it's filling right up, there could be a malfunction with the control board, the pressure switch or the inlet valve .

You could try shutting off the water supply at the taps before you start the drain/spin cycle.
Good luck!

There is not a Spin Only Cycle BUT there is a REFRESH cycle that will take about 10 minutes.

Sometimes when the load is unbalanced and the machine can not balance the load by itself, the clothes will remain soaked. To avoid this, make sure you always have a balance of small and large things and when loading your machine, do not shove the items in so they ball up.

the machine has sensors within it that detect off balance loads, very possible that the 1 or 2 items are not enough to correctly balance themselves, so the machine will never achieve full speed spin.

The washer will not proceed into high speed spin with just two large beach towels in the basket. The washer is detecting a out of balance condition, and remains in low speed spin. Solution? Try adding more items into the basket. With only two towels, there is not enough mass to balance the washer. With more clothing or towels, there is more items for the machine to balance, and reach full speed spin.

The only other thing that could cause this, would be if the water in the tub is not completely draining in the time allowed. This washe does not have a cleanout, and checking for an obtruction in the pump is difficult. I would go with the more clothes first, then see.

Hey cissy, sounds like your pump is plugged. Could be rubber backing from a cheap throw rug, other lint type item, or object like a coin or hair pin.
Remove power, take two screws out from the very bottom front edge of machine. remove access panel to gain access to pump. Remember, disconnecting hoses to pump will cause remaining water in tub to come out, be prepared. Remove obstruction from pump. Reassemble. Fixed!