Not pedantic, but precise
The original post implied the very thing dtb points out and protests. If you say "crowd" meaning the large group in the beginning, and then use the word "crowd" to describe another group but don't so specify, the reader takes it as the same "crowd".
If you didn't mean to be unclear, you can take this as an opportunity to make your meaning plain. If you meant to be unclear, and to impugn by innuendo, then dtb was correct to point this out.