> The wording suggests that the order doesn't matter (I certainly thought so), but the order as it turns out, matters.

The order *does not* matter, not for the badge counter and not for the SEDE query (it has an `abs` on the last line). Of course, if your edit is more than twelve hours before the answer, then it does not count. And tag-only edits to the question don't count either. Incidentally, the moment of the upvotes to your answer don't matter.