Count Elements With Strictly Smaller and Greater Elements

class Solution:
    def countElements(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
        nums.sort()
        n = len(nums)
        st, en = 0, n-1
        for i in range(1,n):
            if nums[i] == nums[st]:
                st += 1
            if nums[n-1-i] == nums[en]:
                en -= 1
        return max(en-st-1, 0)