Password is a good idea. A full save game is also possible - would probably have to be just quick save/quick load (maybe on F5/F7) with the map on F1.
Would be cool if that worked. Maybe even with Score intact. I know the scoreboard is not in this, but one could still really write it down just fine.
Saving without a menu on the F-keys sounds great!
Maybe one F-Key could cycle through savegame slots, even, but just one single savegame would be helping a great deal here.