Technically, each of those lt's should be a ternary operation, because values for true could be different.

How about using ! xor instead of == ?

!(($a lt $pick) xor ($b lt $pick)) ? ...
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Update: Alternatively, you could "booleanize" each side of the comparison with !:

( !($a lt $pick) == !($b lt $pick) ) ? ...
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Hmmm, I think ! xor is clearer; it's the "semantically correct" way to test two booleans for equality.