How to stop a timer on HomePod w/o AirPlayed media quitting

When I am AirPlaying media (such as from the Apple Podcasts app on iOS) to one of my HomePod Minis (more recent, colored ones - on latest s/w update) from my iPhone 15 PM (on latest iOS) and I have set a timer set on the HomePod and it concludes...when I ask Siri (via the HomePod) to "cancel" or "stop timer", it stops the timer and also stops the media. At the same time, the AirPlay "stream" or "connection" is broken and I have to then ask Siri to play the podcast that I was just listening to, and hope it resumes it correctly.

Yet, if I ask Siri to run Home commands (or other quick questions like what time it is, etc), they run with no problem and the AirPlayed media continues playing after Siri finishes answering. Why is this happening in 2024? This makes no sense to me.