Which is why other platforms started moving from cron to init years ago?
OS X:
> Note: Although it is still supported, cron is not a recommended solution. It has been deprecated in favor of launchd. [1]
Solaris:
> cron has had a long reign as the arbiter of scheduled system tasks on Unix systems. However, it has some critical flaws that make its use somewhat fraught. [...] cron also lacks validation, error handling, dependency management, and a host of other features. [...] The Periodic Restarter is a delegated restarter, at svc:/system/svc/periodic-restarter:default, that allows the creation of SMF services that represent scheduled or periodic tasks. [2]
[1]: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Ma...
[2]: https://blogs.oracle.com/SolarisSMF/entry/cron_begone_predic...
However, the other points I've made are still correct and accurate.
But yeah, it is being blamed for bloating init, because for one thing, cron isn't init's job. And that's just the start.