How to launch Launchpad using a keyboard shortcut?

I like and use the launchpad a lot. A generation back, the keyboards had a special key to launch it. That's gone. Then I found that I could use System Settings -> Keyboard -> Launchpad and Dock to change which key you want to use launchpad. So I set that up. Today I discovered that no longer works. The value is still set there but the system won't launch the launchpad when I use the key combo I set for it. I tried changing the key combo to first one then other values, but none of those would actually cause the Launchpad to launch. It's a no-go thing.

Can anybody please give me another secret formula for getting this function, which once had a dedicated key for it, to launch in any way? Is there, perhaps, a way to assign a program to a key so that I can assign it to launch the Launchpad app?

Thanks

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Launchpad keyboard shortcut is broken. Is there a different way to launch it from the keyboard?