Solution: Changed course quickly, at sea - NYT Crossword

I believe I’ve been conflating “sheared” and SHEERED my whole life. You shear a sheep: T his involves a lot of wrestling while wielding a clipping shear that runs down the body, shaving the hair as close as possible to the skin. If you’ve ever tried this or watched it, there’s something of a visual metaphor there for a ship’s wake, or a harvester cutting through a field of wheat, in that this smooth path forms and the shears work in quick strokes that are sort of akin to quick changes of course elsewhere, such as at sea. I tend to think of “sheer” in terms of transparency, or the steepness of a cliff, but it also applies to certain maneuvers like those of a ship.