Council of Elrond

Where There's a Whip wrote:Resource: Short-event
Playable on an untapped Orc or Troll character bearing a Whip. Each tapped character in the bearer's company with a mind and prowess less than the bearer's makes a body check modified by -2. Failing the body check wounds, but does not eliminate the character. Each unwounded character in the company becomes untapped.

Underlined portion is somewhat ambiguous.
1) Are we comparing the two character's minds and the two characters prowesses and looking for both to be less?
2) Are we comparing the sum of the mind and prowess for each character?

The single "a" article makes me think (2), but I could see someone arguing it is implied for prowess. Is this contentious?

I believe (1) is the intent. As you noted, the language can be read both ways. I would expect them to mention "sum of" or "total" if they had meant to add the two values for comparison.