The sugar molecules are not the same shape or size as the water molecules are, so they don't fit into the ice crystals, even though they do fit nicely into the liquid water. Because of this, it's actually harder to freeze liquids like juice or soda than plain water - you have to get them colder before they will freeze.
Water freezes fastest because water doesn't contain other ingredients. Water is H2O, hydrogen and oxygen.
History and analysis of the Mpemba effect. "The Mpemba effect: Hot Water may Freeze Faster than Cold Water".
Thawing in cold water, 40 degrees or below, is safe and much faster - water transfers heat far more efficiently than air - but it can still take hours.
A 16 ounce water plastic bottle will take around 90 minutes to freeze in a standard freezer at 0 degrees F. If you want to freeze a smaller, 8 ounce bottled water, it will take about 45 minutes.
"The Mpemba effect: Hot Water may Freeze Faster than Cold Water". An analysis of the Mpemba effect.
The Mpemba effect is the name given to the observation that a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold, under otherwise similar conditions.
That's because the rate of heat flow between two objects always increases as the temperature difference between them increases. When you put frozen food in hot water, heat flows into that food faster than it would from cold water because the temperature difference is larger.
Since tap water has more of these dissolved substances than distilled water does, it is harder to freeze the tap water. Another effect that occurs which slows up the freezing process is the concentration of the dissolved substances as the tap water freezes.