I'm a comparative novice with xwords so apologies in advance.
16d I thought it was the convention that living persons with the exception of the Queen could not be named as answers.
25a Similarly this clue uses the name of a present day commercial company.
Any thoughts?
I don't know which conventions you are referring to - but certainly famous people's names are in crosswords all the time. Re the second clue (25a) - is the crossword sponsored, which crossword is it?
16d is amiCABLE and 25a is bEDFellows. I have never heard of names not being used in crosswords in fact it is unusual to find a crossword without names either being in the clue or the answer.