Bad minute in crontab?

I get the following error in my syslog:

Oct 17 13:14:03 tracker cron[873]: (*system*) ERROR (Syntax error, this crontab file will be ignored)
Oct 17 13:14:03 tracker cron[873]: Error: bad minute; while reading /etc/crontab

I don't see any bad minutes though! My crontab file is:

# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

# m h dom mon dow user  command
17 *    * * *   root    cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 18   * * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 18   * * 7   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 18   1 * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
#

Use cat -v /etc/crontab to check for unintended control characters.

Cron tab requires at least the first and last lines of the file not to be actual cron instructions. You can put comments instead - such as those below in a file:

# START CRON JOB LIST
* * * * * /path/to/script/script1.sh
0 3 * * 0 /path/to/script/script2.sh
5 0 * * 1 /path/to/script/script3.sh
# END CRON JOB LIST

Install it like so

sudo crontab -u user /path/to/cron/file

This should work for you.