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After reading Can you move between the separate attacks of a spell?, I was quite surprised to learn that eldritch blast can be considered to not fire the beams simultaneously.

Given that the spell's duration is instantaneous, I assumed it was clean cut that they all fired simultaneously. However, Crawford seems to think differently:

Jeremy Soard: @JeremyECrawford Eldritch Blast: are the attacks resolved in parallel or sequence? Do you have to pick all the targets first before rolling?

JeremyECrawford: Multiple attacks on the same turn aren't simultaneous, unless a feature or spell says otherwise.

However, there are many who don't accept Crawford's rulings as being meaningful. However, it is enough for me to realise that it's not as clean cut as I originally assumed.

I'm interested in knowing what the RAW interpretation is, discounting the above information from Crawford.

So, based on RAW, meaning only what's printed in a published book, do multiple beams from eldritch blast happen simultaneously or not?

Note that I haven't found any duplicate Q&As on this site, except possibly those that use the above quote from Crawford as an answer. I'm specifically asking about a RAW-only interpretation.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Possibly a repeat of When are targets picked for spells with multiple “missiles”? ? \$\endgroup\$
    – user60913
    May 19, 2020 at 8:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ Somewhat related, this question asks about how many attacks eldritch blast is considered to be: "Does the Slow spell limit the number of Eldritch Blast beams?" \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    May 19, 2020 at 8:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ Yeah the magic missile bit doesn't apply. I thought of it because rpg.stackexchange.com/a/51727/60913 seems to be a functional answer to your question as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – user60913
    May 19, 2020 at 8:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Medix2 Wasting beams on a dead creature is probably the most obvious example. Honestly, at this point, I feel like the answers to the question Odo linked above probably does answer mine. I'm probably going to close this as a dupe of that, unless anyone thinks they shouldn't be because the questions "aren't technically duplicates" or something, but I kinda think they are. \$\endgroup\$
    – NathanS
    May 19, 2020 at 9:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Odo Thanks again for pointing me to that Q&A; all the answers to that do answer my question quite nicely. \$\endgroup\$
    – NathanS
    May 19, 2020 at 9:11

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