Of the fifty US states, ten finally earn a mention of sorts (8)
I believe the answer is:
allusion
'mention of sorts' is the definition.
'allusion' can be an answer for 'mention' (allusion is a kind of mention). I am not sure about the 'of sorts' bit.
'of the fifty us states ten finally earn a' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
'fifty' could be 'l' (Roman numeral) and 'l' is found within the answer.
'us' is present in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
The remaining letters 'lin' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for allusion that I've seen before include "Passing reference or indirect mention" , "A brief or indirect reference to something" , "Subtle reference" .)