Using processing 0135, when I enclose any code that includes a size() call
in a try()-catch() clause, Processing crashes with the message "new
renderer". This happens no matter if I use OpenGL or P3D.

This is not something that causes any significant trouble, since I can
simply avoid enclosing the size() call in the try-catch clause and be done
with it. Still, this may interest you, since I can assume it is not normal
behavior.

I am on a WinXP SP2 PC.

Code example:

import processing.opengl.*;

void setup()
{
try
{
size(400, 300, OPENGL);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
println(e.getMessage());
}
}

void draw()
{
background(128);

pushMatrix();
fill(255,0,255);
translate(0.25f*width, 0.25f*height);
rotateY(map(mouseX, 0, width, 0, PI));
rotateX(map(mouseY, 0, height, 0, PI));
box(90);
popMatrix();
}

that's intentional, because of the mechanism used to change the renderer
mid-setup, which throws an exception so that setup() re-runs itself.