diff --git a/src/scientific_plots/__init__.py b/src/scientific_plots/__init__.py
index 0d1ba1d342f5f4b764a76a38b1b9896f47e5f660..76e05354ea4cc6273fa923702cc4c31667b2defd 100644
--- a/src/scientific_plots/__init__.py
+++ b/src/scientific_plots/__init__.py
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ useful across several different projects and repositories. It also contains
 stub-files with several data-type annotations for scipy and matplot-lib
 functions."""
 
-__version__ = "1.8.1"
+__version__ = "1.8.2"
diff --git a/src/scientific_plots/default_plots.py b/src/scientific_plots/default_plots.py
index 17c4d22dde99f4a5d65e0e4a6fd970f1b83d9fdd..00b76b178666a5baa8b4955547ba8d87f030262b 100644
--- a/src/scientific_plots/default_plots.py
+++ b/src/scientific_plots/default_plots.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ mpl.use("Agg")
 In = TypeVar("In", List[float], Tuple[float],
              Vector)
 
+# pylint: disable=invalid-name
 In2D = TypeVar("In2D", List[List[float]], List[Vector], Tuple[Vector],
                Matrix)
 
@@ -239,6 +240,7 @@ def plot_surface(X: In2D, Y: In2D, Z: In2D,
                  antialiased: bool = True,
                  rcount: int = 200, ccount: int = 200) -> None:
     """create a 2D surface plot of meshgrid-like valued Xs, Ys and Zs"""
+    # pylint: disable=too-many-branches
     if not check_inputs(
             np.array(X).flatten(),
             np.array(Z).flatten(), xlabel, zlabel):
@@ -409,8 +411,8 @@ def two_plots(x1: In, y1: In, label1: str,
     if xlim is not None:
         pass
     elif outer:
-        xlim = (min(min(x1), min(x2)),
-                max(max(x1), max(x2)))
+        xlim = (min(*x1, *x2),
+                max(*x1, *x2))
     else:
         xlim = (max(min(x1), min(x2)),
                 min(max(x1), max(x2)))
@@ -473,8 +475,8 @@ def three_plots(x1: In, y1: In, label1: str,
     plt.plot(x3, y3, label=label3, linestyle="dotted")
     plt.xlabel(xlabel)
     plt.ylabel(ylabel)
-    min_ = min(min(y1), min(y2), min(y3))
-    max_ = max(max(y1), max(y2), max(y3))
+    min_ = min(*y1, *y2, *y3)
+    max_ = max(*y1, *y2, *y3)
     if not logscale:
         plt.ylim(
             min_ - (max_ - min_) * 0.02,
diff --git a/src/scientific_plots/plot_settings.py b/src/scientific_plots/plot_settings.py
index 95eca75fca74f84d7708f30ba60e41a8c771e620..ed49b62da97a8eb3e0a729d8f907f26f9af1a6d3 100644
--- a/src/scientific_plots/plot_settings.py
+++ b/src/scientific_plots/plot_settings.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from warnings import warn, catch_warnings, simplefilter
 from textwrap import dedent
 
+# pylint: disable=unused-import
+import scienceplots  # noqa: F401
 import mpl_toolkits
 import matplotlib as mpl
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
diff --git a/src/scientific_plots/utilities.py b/src/scientific_plots/utilities.py
index 512d61f1a47c15398ab1e4d10737e03a90155846..af8c645e8a34a8ab7e0be38a46021267255b543c 100644
--- a/src/scientific_plots/utilities.py
+++ b/src/scientific_plots/utilities.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ def write_file(filename: Union[Path, str],
     """write the rows given in 'arga' to a file"""
     # write data to a file
     if not any(args[0]):
-        raise Exception("Tried to write an empty row to a file")
+        raise ValueError("Tried to write an empty row to a file.")
     if isinstance(filename, str):
         filename = Path(filename)
     with open(filename, "w", encoding="utf-8") as output_file: