The term SCI-FI RACE is a combination of two words, 'sci-fi' and 'RACE'. Sci-fi is short for science fiction, a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. The word 'RACE' refers to a competition between two or more people or groups to see who can finish a task first. In this case, the crossword solution ELOI is a reference to the Eloi, a fictional RACE of humans from the 1895 novel The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. The Eloi are a peaceful, agrarian society living in a future where humans have been divided into two distinct species.